


throw me to the wolves (and i'll come back leading the pack)

by wvlfqveen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Agender Malia Tate, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death, Multi, Pack Family, Platonic Kissing, Slow Burn, Trans Vernon Boyd, all ur favs are queer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-05-17 08:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5861806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wvlfqveen/pseuds/wvlfqveen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allison Argent turns away from her past and her demons and moves to San Francisco for university. There, she meets adorable Scott McCall, his equally adorable boyfriend Isaac Lahey, and their group of friends who take her in like they've known her their whole lives. As Allison gets to know what true family feels like, a piece of her past comes back and upsets her newly-found balance. Eventually, she will have to make a choice between family....and the people who truly love her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> adsnfdsuhgdfyug ignore that summary itsnotthatdeep.jpg
> 
> hello and welcome to jackass. this is my first multi-chapter teen wolf fic, and my first time writing a polyamorous relationship, so come and ride wit me thru the journey of success
> 
> tbh w u i have no idea how much smut this will include (if any) bc i've never written smut before so i wont make any promises
> 
> special shoutout to keerthi for beta-ing, and a shoutout to my meme chelle for helping me brainstorm and basically encouraging my sinning
> 
> title taken from throne by bmth because im emo trash at heart
> 
> p.s. pls leave comments/suggestions if u want and kudos are always welcome haha ;)

Allison sighed as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, a few unruly strands falling to the sides of her face. “Thank you,” she told the workers that brought her stuff up, handing them their payment “I’ll take it from here.”

They nodded and left, stepping over the myriad of cardboard boxes in the hallway. Allison sighed again, putting her hands on her hips and looking around her new home.

It was a little apartment ten minutes away from campus, her view dominated by other apartment buildings and college kid staples; thrift shops, coffee shops and a second-hand book store her mom would have disapproved of.

She loved it.

The apartment itself was not that bad for her budget or the neighbourhood; the living room was small, but had a big window that allowed plenty of sunlight in, which she liked. The kitchen and the living room were separated by a painted-blue counter, and the kitchen was spacious enough to keep her from getting claustrophobic. A small hallway led to the washroom and her bedroom, which was the biggest room in the house but had a smaller window than the one in the living room. At the moment it was dominated by a mess of clothes, her mattress, and several cardboard boxes.

But first things first; she had to bring all the boxes inside, and then somehow find a couch for the living room, maybe a small table, too. She grabbed a big one and started hauling it in, ignoring the sound of the elevator door opening as she pulled the box inside.

“Oh hey, you’re my new neighbour! Welcome!,” an enthusiastic voice called out, making her look up from the floor.

The person that had spoken was around her age, with short, spiky, black hair, deep brown eyes, and a slightly uneven jawline. They were beaming down at her, hands full of grocery bags.

 _Cute_ , she thought, smiling back at them and rising, hand outstretched. They dumped their bags on the floor and shook her hand, smiling harder.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m Allison, I just moved here. Wait, God, you knew that already sorry” she laughed awkwardly, unable to stop the rambling as her anxiety grew “I just have so much to do and everything's a mess so I’m not really in the right mind right now and uh” she cleared her throat, sighing. “Let’s do that again. I’m Allison; she/her pronouns,” she smiled and extended her hand again, waiting to see their reaction at the pronoun comment. She’d heard that San Francisco, especially college areas, were more liberal, but she didn’t know how far that extended.

They laughed, not unkindly.“I’m Scott and this is Isaac; he/his pronouns for both of us,” he said, pointing at the elevator just as it opened to admit a tall, lanky guy with curly hair around their age, also holding grocery bags. He smiled at her politely, but not as enthusiastically as Scott, curiosity and something else in his eyes.

“How did you-,” Allison started, pointing at Isaac.

“I always know where he is,” Scott answered her unspoken question, directing his smile at Isaac now. This one was softer, eyes full of love.

_Oh._

“You guys together?,” Allison asked, bending down again to get another box and try to seem more casual. She berated herself for even having to pretend to be casual. Scott sent her a weird look; had she been that obvious?

“Yes,” he said simply, smiling again and ignoring Isaac’s teasing eye roll as the latter unlocked their apartment to take the grocery bags inside. She nearly said “see you later” when she saw Scott head inside but he was back in almost no time.

“Need any help?,” he asked, leaning on the threshold and crossing his arms, which she tried very hard not to look at. She shook her head and smiled at him.

“No, I’m done anyway,” she said, pulling the last two boxes inside. She leaned on her own threshold, looking into her apartment. “I just need to find a couch I can actually afford,” she added, smiling wryly.

“We can take you to the place our friend works at,” Isaac suggested, coming out to stand beside Scott. They only had a few inches between them, but Scott looked more muscular, and was darker than Isaac. They made a good couple.

Allison nearly sighed again; she really had to stop doing that. “Really? That would be great. Is it cheap?”

“Don’t worry about it, our friend will help you out,” Isaac reassured. Allison failed not to notice that he was very cute too; his face was all angles, more squared than Scott’s, with cheekbones to die for, and his eyes were a blue she would have killed for when she was younger. He looked a little like an angel.

Allison shook herself minutely and grinned. “That would be awesome, thank you. Are you free today?”

Scott and Isaac looked at each other, having a silent conversation. “We’re free right now if you want,” Scott said, shrugging.

“Oh, okay great. Just let me take a shower first and I’ll be right out. Thank you guys, I can’t even tell you how much you’re helping me right now,” she said, rambling a bit again. She cringed inwardly and pushed off the doorway.

Scott smiled. “It’s no problem, just knock on our door when you’re ready.”

Allison smiled at both of them and shut the door as they went inside.

She leaned her head back on the door and groaned.

She was screwed.

* * *

“So are you from around here?,” Scott asked later when they were walking down the street, as he had explained that the store was only a few blocks away. Allison pushed a strand of hair away from her face and nodded, walking closer to Scott to avoid a harried mother with a baby carriage.

“Well, I was born here, but my family moved around a lot,” she explained, a little uncomfortable at the mention of her family. She didn’t like delving into family stuff, even with people as nice as Scott.

Scott, probably sensing that, just nodded in understanding and smiled again. He was walking hand in hand with Isaac, who looked content to just listen. “Cool," Scott said. “We’re from Beacon Hills, Northern California.”

Allison glanced at him sharply. “Really? Some of my family used to live there,” she admitted, regretting it the moment the sentence was out of her mouth.

Scott opened his mouth, probably to ask for more details, when Isaac spoke up. “So, you go to school?”

Allison could have kissed him. “Yeah, San Francisco State University. Just transferred from Seattle.”

“Hey, that’s our school," Scott said, smiling again. Allison envied how easy-going he seemed to be. “What program?,” he asked.

“French,” she said. “It’s a family thing.”

“I’m a social work student,” Isaac said “and he’s my little biology nerd.” He nudged Scott and laughed, a clear sound that surprised a laugh of her own out.

Scott huffed. “Ignore him,” he said. “He’s been hanging out with Stiles too much.”

“Who’s Stiles?,” she asked as they finally reached _Lazy Emporium_ and went inside. She was grateful for any reprieve from the summer heat; her shirt was already sticking to her back.

“He’s our other friend,” Isaac explained as Scott went to find the friend that worked in the store. “He and Scott have been best friends for like, ever. He lives in our building, too.”

“Oh, cool. Is it just you guys?,” Allison asked, sitting on the ugliest couch in existence, a weird green thing that sagged under her weight.

Isaac smirked at the face she must have made and sat down beside her, the couch sagging harder. “Nah,” he said, stretching out his long legs. “We’re a big group; there’s us two, Stiles, Liam, Boyd -that’s the friend that works here- his girlfriend Erica, Malia and Kira and Lydia. Lydia, Malia, Kira, Erica and Boyd live in the building across from us.”  

“Wow; I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend group that big,” she admitted, pushing her hair back from her sweaty forehead and grimacing.

“Me neither,” Isaac said. He smirked unpleasantly, something dark entering his expression. “I was kind of a loner when I was younger.”

Before Allison could think of anything to say to that, Scott came back with Boyd in tow. He was taller than Scott, probably close to Isaac’s height but more muscular than either of them, with dark skin and a buzzcut Allison envied in the San Francisco heat.

Isaac got up to fist-bump Boyd, and Allison got up after him, smiling politely. Boyd had no expression on his face as he turned to her and regarded her carefully. She held the eye contact, feeling like she had been caught in a stand-off.

Then suddenly, Boyd grinned and extended his hand. Allison shook it, smiling back in relief.

“Hi Allison, I’m Boyd,” he said. He slapped Scott’s back with a huge palm, making Scott shake comically. “I hope he hasn’t been giving you a hard time.”

“Since when do _I_ give people a hard time?”, Scott asked indignantly as Boyd took them all through the store, passing furniture of various conditions.

“You breathing gives me a hard time,” Boyd joked, expression suddenly flat. Allison had to hold back a laugh. Isaac smirked sideways at her as the two guys in the front continued to bicker. They came to a stop in front of a bunch of couches on discount, and Boyd turned to her, all business.

“See anything you like?,” Boyd asked, coming to stand beside her. She looked at the collection of furniture in front of her.

“That one is nice,” she said, pointing at a small couch in a warm chocolate brown colour that looked perfectly comfortable.

 _Garbage,_ her mother sneered in her head.

“It’s perfect actually,” Allison continued. “How much?”

“Original price, $300, discount brings it down to $240….how about $200?”

“Really?” Allison asked sharply “I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, echoing Isaac from earlier.

“Thank you, you’re saving my life,” she said, taking her wallet out of her purse and following Boyd to the cash register.

"Don’t thank me,” he said while another employee rang in her cash, the ghost of a smirk on his face “thank your boyfriends.”

* * *

“What did he mean, thank your boyfriends?,” Allison asked, thanking every higher power that she didn’t blush easily.

They were walking back to their apartment building, Boyd having flat-out refused them a ride in the store truck that would bring her her couch in half an hour. Scott snorted, turning his face to the setting sun, his eyes reflecting red light.

“He loves to tease. He may look like a brick wall most of the time, but he loves to tease and prank as much as Stiles.”

Isaac shook his head, half-smiling. “Don’t let Stiles hear you say that. He’s the self-proclaimed king of pranks.”

Scott opened his eyes and turned his face to Isaac to respond, when something made him look the other way. He grinned. “Speaking of,” he said, whistling at -Allison guessed based on context- Stiles across the street, a guy around their age with a mop of unruly hair and a scattering of moles across his face. Stiles grinned and jaywalked to them, running right into Scott’s arms who picked him up and spun him around.

“Buddy! Friend! Bro! Broseph! Broseidon, god of the broceans!,” Stiles exclaimed as Scott set him down, shaking his head in amusement. “Long time no see!”

“We hung out last night, Stiles,” Isaac said. Stiles punched him in the arm.

“You always just gotta rain on my parade, don’t ya, buddy?”

“This is Allison,” Scott said before the two could start bickering. “She’s our new neighbour.”

Stiles grinned at her and offered his fist for a bump, Allison complying with a grin. “Hey dude,” he greeted “welcome to the neighbourhood and all that.”

“Thank you,” she said as they all walked inside the lobby. Isaac pressed the button for the elevator, Scott taking the opportunity to hug him from behind and nuzzle the place where neck met shoulder. Allison looked away hastily.

“Disgusting, aren’t they?,” Stiles asked, looking at his friends fondly. Allison laughed, ignoring the little green monster in her head.

“Truly”, she said, earning an approving smirk from Stiles. Scott looked back at them sternly.

“We can hear you,” he reprimanded, without any real heat.

“I know, brosicle,” Stiles said, making Scott groan into Isaac’s back. Allison laughed again, more lightly than before.

They all piled into the elevator, the heat and humidity making Allison feel gross. She was tempted to shower again.

“So, what are y’all doing tonight?” Stiles asked, pulling her out of her little reverie and leaning back on the wall. Scott shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure everyone but Malia and Kira are coming over. I think they’re working at 24-hour Fitness tonight.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Stiles muttered, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“They together?,” Allison asked curiously as they exited the elevator at their floor.

“No,” Stiles snorted “but they wanna be.”

“Then why aren't they?,” Allison asked, digging into her purse to search for her keys.

“Because they’re stubborn and clueless,” Stiles explained, leaning on the wall beside her. Allison snorted in response and twisted her keys in the lock.

“Hey, why don’t you come hang out with us later tonight?” Scott asked, one foot in his apartment. Allison considered for a moment.

“Maybe another time,” she said, finally unlocking her door. “I have some uni things I need to take care of and well, my apartment,” she explained, gesturing at the mess inside, only half-lying.

“Aw, that’s okay,” Scott said earnestly. Allison’s heart clenched weirdly; she already hated disappointing him. “See you later then, yeah?”

“Of course, and thank you again, for everything.”

“No problem” Isaac said, smiling as he pulled Scott inside. Stiles extended his hand. Allison looked at him questioningly.

“Your phone, Snow White,” he explained. “Let me give you our numbers. I can’t believe I have to think of everything around here.”

“Snow White?” Allison asked, unlocking her phone and handing it to him. He took it and added their numbers in quickly, fingers practically flying over the screen. He must have had practice with keyboards.

“Yeah, you give off that vibe; what with the dark curls and the white skin and dimples and all that shit,” he explained, sticking his tongue out when she rolled her eyes at him. He handed her phone back.

“See ya, princess,” he laughed, closing Scott and Isaac’s door behind him.

Allison huffed. “Don’t call me that,” she called out, smiling privately at Stiles’ bright laugh as it floated from inside.

Maybe if her life worked out for long enough, she wouldn’t have a problem making friends for the first time ever, Allison thought later, when she was finalizing her transition into SanFran State over emails. She tried not to feel left out and lonely as she listened to the loud laughs and shouts coming from the apartment across from her.

A girl could dream, right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Babe-,” she started, voice sweet. Boyd took one look at their positions and sat on the love seat perpendicular to them, expression blank.
> 
> “You know we can’t adopt an adult, Erica,” he stated simply, like this was an on-going discussion.
> 
> Erica pouted. “But I like this one,” she said, patting Allison’s head. Allison huffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooooo and I'm very sorry for the delay but I just couldn't get this chapter out for some reason. Anyway it's here now so please enjoy this un-beta'd gay mess
> 
> Also a few things  
> 1) everything up to season 3b has happened, just without Allison. after that what happened to them it's up to u  
> 2) more characters (incl. new show villains) might make an appearance  
> 3) the castro district is actually the gay district of San Francisco but there's no "Full Moon" club  
> 4) im scared that some of the pack might seem a little ooc so please if you notice anything comment and tell me! 
> 
> Kudos/comments/feedback are always welcome anyway:)

Over the next few days, Allison got to know the streets of San Francisco well as she searched for cheap furniture, anything that would allow her to actually eat at the end of the day. She found a desk for her homework, a coffee table, the most comfortable arm chair in existence, and even applied for a job at a LGBTQ+ nightclub in the Castro district despite having no experience working in a nightclub.

Each day that passed, she had been tempted to knock on Scott and Isaac’s door.

But she hadn’t.

A part of her, the part that had realized making friends only to move away served no purpose other than hurt her, told her it was useless to get close to them; especially when her hormones refused to calm down whenever she thought of Scott’s sunny smile and Isaac’s secretive eyes with those damn eyelashes.

Another part of her however really wanted to see that smile and those eyes again.

And okay, she could kinda admit to herself that even the fact that Stiles had never texted her stung a bit.

She shook herself out of her thoughts and tried to concentrate on her boiling pasta. She wasn’t the best at cooking, so it made for a good distraction, effectively silencing any other invasive thoughts.

A knock on the door made her startle, nearly spilling hot water all over the place. “Just a minute,” she called out, making sure everything was secure before making her way to the door and opening it.

Allison stared at the person on the other side of her doorway. They were blonde, with big brown eyes lined with eyeliner, and blood-red lips that were pulled into a wolfish grin. The plunging neckline of their tank top showed off their cleavage, and their shorts were practically tiny. She half-expected them to be wearing heels but they were barefoot for some reason, their nails also red.

“Can I help you?” she asked politely, nearly grimacing when she realized she was still gripping the wooden spoon she had been cooking with. Her hand tightened around it.

“Well, I hope so. You’re Allison,” the other person stated. Allison’s eyebrows rose.

“Yes, and you are…?”

The blonde grinned and stepped inside, completely disregarding Allison standing in their way. “I’m Erica. You met my boyfriend Boyd yesterday”, Erica said, looking around her kitchen curiously. Allison closed the door hesitantly, going back to her pasta.

“Oh yeah, nice to meet you. Isaac mentioned you,” she said, finally taking the pot off the stovetop and carrying it to the sink to spill the water. Vaguely, she wondered why having Erica casually standing in her kitchen didn’t feel weird at all.

“Isaac mentioned you, too,” Erica said, grinning with a hint of amusement. Allison sent her a weird look but did not reply, transferring the pasta on a plate. After a moment of hesitation she turned to Erica.

“You want some?”

“No thanks. Scott is making homemade pizza; the whole pack is gonna be here soon.”

Allison snorted, adding the sauce and cheese on the pasta and walking to the living room to sit. Erica followed her, getting comfortable on the armchair by the window.

“You guys are probably the weirdest friend group I’ve ever met,” Allison confessed. Who called their friends their pack?

Erica grinned widely. “You have no idea.”

A moment of silence passed between them. Allison was the first to break it. “So, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?” she asked, a hint of anxiety in her tone. The way Erica seemed to be analyzing her made her nervous.

“Oh yeah, you applied for the waitressing job at _Full Moon_. I told the manager I know you so I’m officially here to talk to you about it. Unofficially, I’m here to invite you to Scott and Isaac’s place. Everyone wants to meet you.”

Allison sat up, straightening in surprise. “Wait, okay, tell me about the job first.”

Erica flipped her hair back and shrugged. “Normally, since you’re underage and we’re exclusively a nightclub, you wouldn’t be able to serve anything; but” she grinned and leaned forward as if to share a secret “the manager is cool and her assistant knows the whole gang so it’s alright. Anyway, you have no experience so if you are to take this job, you’ll have to be trained for as long as it takes you to be okay working independently. Uhm, what else- oh! We have two theme nights every week,  Ladies’ Night on Fridays and another Theme Night every Wednesday. The Wednesday Theme Night changes every week and we all have to participate in it, even staff. We’re also very strict about actual underage drinking. You look nice but you have to be firm about not serving alcohol to anyone under 21. I don’t care if they’re in the VIP section and paying you the big bucks, you do not give them alcohol. Got it?”

Allison nodded, slightly overwhelmed, then hastily stabbed at her pasta. She had forgotten about her food.

“Oh, by the way, this is kinda rude to ask but are you straight?”

Allison nearly snorted. “No, I’m bi.”

Erica grinned. “Perfect. Come to the club at 7 pm tomorrow, okay? You can talk to the manager for your payment and shit.”

She grinned. “So, I got the job?”

“Don’t tell Satomi -the boss- that I told you but yes,” Erica said, smirking.

Allison felt giddy all of a sudden.“Thank you. What’s your job there anyway?”

“No problem, gorgeous, and I’m a dancer,” she said, winking. “ Now, come over to Scott and Isaac’s,” she said, getting up and grabbing her hand to pull her up.

Allison resisted. “I don’t want to intrude and…,” she trailed off, gesturing down at her food. Erica raised an eyebrow but stopped pulling her, putting a hand on her hip.

“Trust me, you’re not intruding. They’ve seriously been moping for _days_.”

“Moping?” Allison echoed, something strange fluttering in her stomach.

Erica rolled her eyes. “They said you didn’t text them or even knock on their door again so they thought they came on too strong. Well, Scott did. That boy is like, ridiculously friendly sometimes.”

“They didn’t text me either,” Allison grumbled, and instantly regretted it. Erica’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m shocked,” Erica said, sarcasm clear in her tone. “Come on, princess. All of you need to stop being stupid.” She pulled her up with so much strength Allison nearly fell into her, standing up straight at the last second. She huffed in exasperation, but Erica just smirked. She handed Allison’s plate over.

“You can eat this another time,” Erica suggested, pulling her towards the door. Allison put the plate on the table, retrieved her keys one-handed and was practically manhandled out of her apartment. She locked the door, ignoring Erica’s impatient eye roll.

Door locked, Erica pulled her again, barging into Scott and Isaac’s apartment like she owned the place. Stiles and Scott, in the middle of bickering over pizza toppings, looked up, startled.

“Allison!,” Stiles exclaimed, a big grin splitting his face. He hurried over to her, hugging her tightly. Erica broke up the hug with a slap on his arm, so hard that Allison felt the impact, too.

“Ow,” Stiles complained. “What was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for,” Erica said, pulling him into a headlock and into the living room. Allison heard Stiles mutter something that ended with “Derek”.

“Hey,” Scott said with a grin. She smiled back and approached him, leaning on the counter beside the stove. He was in the process of putting the sauce on three huge circles of dough, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“Hello,” Allison said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She had almost felt self-conscious hanging out with Erica; she was only wearing a huge, faded purple, Washington University t-shirt, and tiny shorts underneath, and Erica was well….Erica, but Scott made breathing easy again. He was wearing a black tank top and khaki shorts but his hair was covered in cheese and there was definitely sauce on his nose.

Scott smiled questioningly at her. “You’re looking at me weird; what is it?”

She grinned. “You have uh” she touched her own nose, giggling when Scott went cross-eyed to see what she was referring to.

He wiped it off hastily and turned back to glare into the living room where Erica and Stiles were now cuddling right in front of the fan, Stiles’ hair flapping wildly every ten seconds. He turned back to the pizza, now moving on to the cheese.

“Cool tattoo, by the way,” she said, not sure if she actually meant that. It was cool, she supposed; it was just two, thick black lines that encircled his bicep. He looked at her for a moment then grinned.

“You think it’s weird,” he said. She froze; had she gotten that easy to read?

“I don’t-”

“Don’t worry; my mom thinks so, too,” he reassured her. She laughed.

“Then why did you do it? Teenage rebellion?”

He snorted. “No. I kept seeing it in my dreams. I’m not really sure what it means even now but,” he shrugged “it’s kind of...my symbol.”

“That’s cool,” she said. He looked at her again.

He laughed. “Now you’re not lying.”

She shook her head, smiling. “I don’t lie.”

He went back to the pizza he was working on, an easy silence passing between them.

“Looks serious,” she noted after a while, nodding down at the food as Scott moved on to the other toppings. "Are you trying to feed an army?" He laughed.

“It’s the only thing I know how to make, honestly,” he admitted, totally unashamed. “ I’m not very good at cooking anything that doesn't involve microwaves; I get too distracted most of the time otherwise. If it wasn’t for Isaac and Stiles, I would have starved a long time ago. Plus, we eat a lot. Trust me; I really do need to make all this food."

Allison snorted. “More power to you then. Where is Isaac, anyway? Erica told me the whole gang is going to be here.”

“Gang,” Scott echoed, then smiled down at the pizza. “We’re not a gang.”

“No,” Allison snorted, remembering Erica’s words “you’re a pack.”

Scott looked up quickly, a weird look crossing his face. Then he looked into the living room, and without looking at Allison, handed her the bowl of cheese. “Hold this,” he added unnecessarily. He ran to the living room and jumped on Stiles and Erica, making the two squeal. Allison shook her head, smiling as giggles filtered into the room.

“Scott,” a familiar voice called out from behind her “don’t hurt the children.”

Everyone turned to looked at the newcomers. Isaac was standing at the door in running gear, a sweat stain down the front of his tank top. Allison was surprised at how muscled his arms were, but yet again, she had only really looked at them in comparison to Scott’s.

Behind him stood two people also in running gear. The one to his right had a short bob of hair, intense brown eyes and dark eyebrows. They looked at Allison distrustfully and breezed past her to get water from the fridge.

The other person looked more friendly; they were smiling at Allison, dark eyes crinkling, and their hair was swept back into a ponytail.

Scott, caught mid-tickling Erica, snorted. “I’m not hurting any children. I’m hurting _monsters._ ” Erica growled playfully under him and bucked up, throwing him off her hips. She and Stiles gave a battle cry in unison, and launched themselves at him, tickling Scott mercilessly.

“How the turntables,” Stiles cackled, right before Isaac lifted him off his boyfriend. Allison was vividly reminded of a mom cat lifting her child from the scruff of its neck with her teeth. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

The person with the intense eyes walked past her, sending her another distrustful look. They disappeared into the bathroom, judging from the sound of running water.

“They don’t like me, do they?” she wondered out loud. The other person with the ponytail came to lean on the counter beside her.

“They don’t know you,” they corrected. “You must be Allison.”

“Yeah, and you are?”

“Kira, she/her pronouns,” Kira said “and the grumpy one was Malia, they/them pronouns.” She grinned at Allison’s questioning look. “Scott told us you told him your pronouns right off the bat like it was the most natural thing. It was appreciated.”

“It is the most natural thing,” Allison said, shrugging. Kira smiled again.

Scott walked in the kitchen, hair mussed and eyes bright from laughter. Allison smiled unconsciously at the look of happiness on his face. He took the bowl of cheese (she hadn’t even realized she was still holding it) and bumped Kira with his hip, his nose crinkling.

“Someone smells,” Scott said pointedly, cringing away at Kira’s punch on his shoulder.

“Malia is in the shower,” Kira said defensively, hopping on the small kitchen table. Stiles leaned on the partition between the living room and the kitchen, grinning slyly, his hair a complete mess.

“So?”, he asked, ducking as Kira turned back to presumably glare at him. Allison heard Erica snort.

Isaac walked into the kitchen, ruffling Kira’s hair on his way to Scott. He dropped a kiss on his boyfriend’s shoulder and came to lean against the counter beside her.

“They driving you crazy yet?” he asked her, smirking.

“Yes,” she said “Stiles especially.”

“Excuse me,” Stiles gasped, appearing on the partition again “what did I do?”

Allison grinned playfully and walked into the living room, making a show of flopping down at the couch as if exhausted.

She sighed dramatically. “What haven’t you done?”

Erica laughed, throwing her long legs over Allison’s lap. “This one is gonna be beating you at your own game very soon, Stilinski.”

Stiles sank down on the floor slowly, lying down in the patch of sunlight coming through the window face-first. “Winter...Is....Coming,” he whispered. Allison disagreed; she felt as warm as the patch of sunlight.

* * *

The first pizza had just gotten into the oven (after a long argument over pineapple between Scott and Stiles in which Scott won and no pineapple was added on the pizza) when the door opened, admitting Boyd and two other people Allison hadn’t met yet. Erica sat up, throwing her arms around Allison.

“Babe-,” she started, voice sweet. Boyd took one look at their positions and sat on the love seat perpendicular to them, expression blank.

“You know we can’t adopt an adult, Erica,” he stated simply, like they've had this discussion before.

Erica pouted. “But I like this one,” she said, patting Allison’s head. Allison huffed.

“This one can hear you,” she pointed out. Erica looked at her, grinned, and kissed her on the cheek exaggeratedly.

“Good job, hon,” she said, laughing at Allison’s raised middle finger.

One of the people who had entered with Boyd came and sat beside her, barely glancing at Stiles who was still lying down on the floor, now with a pillow and his phone. They were wearing a black circle skirt with a flowery sweetheart bustier top and bright green heels, strawberry blonde locks almost disturbingly flawless in this heat. Allison started feeling supremely under-dressed again.

“Hi, I love your heels,” she said in lieu of an introduction. They looked at her critically for a moment then grinned cheekily.

“Good,” they said primly. “I’m Lydia, and you’re my new best friend.”

Allison laughed. “Okay; I’m Allison.”

“You know where you can wear heels without looking like you’re torturing yourself? And not the fun kind of torturing? At the _Full Moon_ ,” Erica said, slapping Lydia’s thigh playfully. She turned to Allison, mock-exasperated.

“I’ve been trying to get her to come for weeks now but Miss Double Major enjoys being Miss-Double-Major-Pain-In-My-Ass,” Erica snorted. Lydia rolled her eyes and kicked her heels off, folding her legs on the couch.

“The semester is going to start soon,” Lydia argued.

“You’re double-majoring?” Allison asked, awed.

Lydia flipped her hair behind her shoulder and nodded. “Cell and molecular biology and classics.”

“Why?” Allison breathed.

Lydia shrugged. “I like Latin. And science.”

Allison blinked at her, then looked at Erica. Erica patted her head again.

“I know, my child. I know. Oh, this is Liam, by the way; he’s my other child,” Erica said, nodding at the other newcomer beside Boyd. He looked slightly younger than the rest, and on the shorter side but just as muscular. He looked shyly at her and waved.

“Hi,” he greeted. Allison noticed he had a cute gap between his teeth, which made him look even younger.

“Hello,” she responded.

She looked up as Malia wandered into the living room, showered and dressed in a huge shirt that read _24hr Fitness_ , and curled up on the same pillow as Stiles. Kira came in a moment after and squeezed herself beside Erica, showered and dressed, too. Her shirt read _SF State._

“Scott, my man,” Stiles called out without looking up from his phone. “Where’s that damned pineapple-less pizza?”

Scott leaned on the partition; Allison couldn’t help but notice that his lips looked very shiny.

Stiles must have glanced up because he noticed, too, giving a noise of disgust. “You better not be making out over my pizza.”

“First of all, it’s not your pizza,” Isaac said, appearing beside Scott. He was freshly showered, curls dark. “Secondly, we will make out in _our_ kitchen whenever _we_ want because this is _our_ apartment.”

Stiles huffed and waved him off dismissively. “Details.”

Scott rolled his eyes fondly. “I just put it in Stiles,” he reminded him. He and Isaac came around the partition, Scott settling cross-legged down on the floor; Malia immediately claimed his lap with their legs. Isaac perched on the arm of the couch, Lydia leaning on his knees.

“Let’s watch something,” Scott suggested, hitting Stiles calves. “Turn it on,” he told Stiles, nodding towards the PlayStation underneath the small TV.

Stiles groaned but stretched to click the button anyway, and threw the controller at Scott, who caught it easily.

“Any ideas?” Scott asked the group at large as he signed onto Netflix. Isaac shrugged. Erica sat up suddenly, excited.

“Stiles. You promised,” she said simply. She grinned as Stiles groaned again.

“Promised what?” Isaac asked, looking suspicious. Erica grinned up at him sweetly which Allison took as a bad sign.

“Well, uh, remember that time I bet even Malia wouldn’t dare go up to that seriously tall and buff bouncer at that shady strip club we stumbled into?” Stiles asked, cringing.

Allison looked at Lydia questioningly. She patted her arm and mouthed “another time.”

“I remember how _vividly_ you lost,” Isaac said, looking off to the distance dreamily. Malia snorted, ignoring Stiles’ glare.

“Let’s just say I make a beautiful drag queen, alright?” he addressed Allison, who laughed, more shocked than anything.

“Oh, no,” she said, giggling. Lydia’s body shook with suppressed laughter.

“Oh, yes,” Stiles lamented. “Anyway, Erica took full advantage of my situation and made me promise I’d perform “When You’re Good to Mama” in broad daylight, too.”

“Am I, uh” Allison started hesitantly “supposed to know where that’s from?”

The whole group turned to stare at her with varying degrees of disbelief. Stiles’ mouth fell open.

“Are you telling me you have _never_ watched _Chicago_?” Erica asked. She didn’t even wait for Allison’s answer before she was on the floor, grabbing the console from Scott.

“We are definitely watching now,” she said decisively. No one seemed to disagree.

* * *

“I can’t breathe,” Allison announced a few hours later, half-sprawled on Erica and Lydia. They had just finished the movie with Stiles, Erica, and surprisingly Malia performing nearly every song, and they had practically inhaled Scott’s pizzas and Isaac’s (ordered) wings.

“Because of the food or Stiles’ Queen Latifah impersonation?” Lydia asked, smirking up at the ceiling at the memory. Allison giggled, then groaned.

“Both,” she said. “The food was fantastic.”

“Thanks,” Scott said from somewhere on her right. She turned her head to look at him. He was lying on the floor, curled around Isaac’s chest. Malia was practically spooning Stiles who looked happy and exhausted after his several performances.

“Alright,” Stiles said, sitting up slightly. Malia whined as they shifted. “What musicals have any of you NOT seen? I feel like I need to educate you. Yet again.”

Liam shrugged. “I’ve never watched _Grease.”_

Lydia sat up as if electrocuted. "Stiles Stilinski, don't you even dare. You know what Rizzo means to me. This is my territory _._ "

Stiles lied back down on the floor, smirking. "Buckle up, children," he said. "Shit's about to go down."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison's first night working in a LGBTQ+ nightclub turns out gayer than she had even anticipated.
> 
> or
> 
> Everyone (Including Me) Is At least 60% In Love With Allison Argent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello , it's me
> 
> this chapter is literally one of the gayest things i have ever written please enjoy it and tell me if sth is wrong/seems off
> 
> have fun xoxo

Allison stared at the tiny, wispy, white dress she had been put into in the mirror thoughtfully. Had her legs always been that long?

She was in Lydia’s bedroom, in her, Kira, and Malia’s apartment. It wasn’t much bigger than her room, but it was all Lydia; she had a large bed with a vintage _bed frame,_ a huge vanity, and a tasteful little night stand. Her makeup collection put Sephora to shame.

“What do you think?” Lydia asked, coming up to stand beside her. Two days ago, the other girl had taken one look in her closet and declared every outfit unfit for her (except a few items which, Lydia let her know, she would be borrowing in the future) and had then dragged her to shop at stores she would have never afforded on her own college student budget. Lydia had insisted she buy the dress for her, and pay her back in free alcohol.

It was a good deal.

“It’s uh……..tiny,” Allison said, making Lydia snort.

“That’s the point, sweetie. Now sit, I need to do your makeup.”

“I’m glad you're coming out tonight. Even geniuses need a break sometimes,” Allison said as Lydia started on her foundation. Lydia rolled her eyes but Allison could tell she’d liked the “genius” comment.

“Yeah well, I want to be there for you on your first day,” Lydia said simply. Allison would have grinned if Lydia hadn’t started highlighting her cheekbones.

“Thanks,” she whispered hoarsely. Lydia smiled.

“You don’t need to thank me. That’s what best friends do.”

It was amazing how quickly Allison had felt at home with everyone; it had been less than a week ever since she had met the entire group, but it felt as if she’d known them her whole life. Even Malia had warmed up to her, and she and Lydia had gotten attached to the hip. And Scott…

Scott was still as friendly and warm and wonderful as always. Allison was vividly reminded of the sun every time he smiled. And he smiled often.

Especially when he saw his equally wonderful _boyfriend._

She sighed out loud. Lydia gave her a weird look and grabbed a glittery eyeshadow palette from her vanity.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as Allison closed her eyes. She sighed again, the small brush on her eye pausing momentarily.

“Nothing,” Allison said, hoping Lydia would drop it. Best friends or not, Allison doubted she would be happy about her misplaced affection towards Scott.

Lydia, bless her heart, did not reply, simply moving on quickly to the other eye.

“Do you know any self-defense moves?” Lydia asked her suddenly, the brush finally lifting off her eyelid. She opened her eyes. Lydia looked very serious.

“Yeah, my father taught me. Don’t worry,” she grinned, trying to use her dimples to their full effect “I’ll be okay.”

Lydia pursed her lips and fluffed Allison’s hair which she had personally curled some time ago. “I know, I know; just be careful okay? Shit happens.”

“What kind of shit?” Allison asked, only half-serious. Lydia stared at her for a moment, then tilted her head up and pointed at a faint scar on her neck.

“You know what this is?” Lydia asked. Her voice had gone quiet.

“Where did you get that?” Allison wondered, dread starting to settle in her stomach. She got up off the bed to look at it closely. It was nearly faded, which would explain why she hadn’t noticed it until now, but it looked like…

“Someone tried to strangle me,” Lydia confessed, tilting her head back down. She looked at Allison intently. “I survived,” she continued calmly “but the thing is, danger tends to kind of...find us, alright? We’ll be right there beside you always but I want to be sure that you can protect yourself.”

Allison swallowed, eyes wide. “Why would someone even-”

“Who knows, who cares,” Lydia said dismissively, turning to the vanity to put Allison’s makeup stuff in the small purse Allison was taking with her. “The point is, as I said, shit happens. A _lot_ of it.”

“I get it,” Allison reassured, staring at herself in the mirror. Her cheekbones looked even more prominent than before, giving her a dewy, ethereal look, and her eyelids were a sparkly green that would have looked tacky if she had tried to do it herself, but Lydia had made her look like some kind of forest nymph.

“What do you think?” Lydia asked, repeating herself from before. Allison smiled.

“I actually look good,” Allison said. Lydia rolled her eyes.

“You always look good, hon. Oh!,” she exclaimed “I almost forgot.” She pulled a small bag of bobby pins out of the vanity drawer; Allison stared in disbelief.

The bobby pins had small white _flowers_ attached to them.

“Lydia, what-” Allison started as Lydia put the bobby pins among her curls. Lydia gave her a weird look.

“It’s Forest Night, remember?”

“Wait, it’s that serious?”

Lydia snorted. “Of course.”

“And does everyone participate?”

“Oh yeah,” Lydia said, finishing up and turning to look at Allison through the mirror. “You’re going to see all kind of forest creatures and even plants. One time, Stiles dressed as moss. It was hideous. I haven’t let him live it down since.”

Allison laughed. “Okay, okay. I have to go, I’m gonna be late,” she said, grabbing the small purse off the vanity. Lydia bent to reach underneath her bed, pulling a shoebox out. She handed it to Allison who opened it and grinned as she pulled outthe green heels Lydia had been wearing the first time they had met. She put them on, pleased beyond measure.

Lydia pushed her to the door, rolling her eyes at Allison’s expression. “Go get em, tiger. I’ll be there in a few.”

Allison paused, one foot out the door. “Love you,” she said finally, her stomach turning from happiness and a bit of disbelief.

How had she gotten so lucky?

“Love you, too,” Lydia said, smiling. She closed the door gently as Allison got into the elevator.

This was going to be a _great_ first night at work.

* * *

Her first night at work had so far been….wild, for a lack of a better word.

So far, she had scolded three underage kids for trying to grab alcohol off her tray, had been groped by two deer, three trees, and a poison ivy, and had been hit on by a large wolf.

A hunter had also tried to sell her weed.

So yeah; wild.

“Work it Erica!” she yelled up at the blonde as she passed by the small platform, making the rounds again. Erica grinned down at her; she looked right in her element, clad in faux-leather and glowing with sweat and glitter. She had come as a wolf, with blood red claws, the best yellow contacts Allison had ever seen, and even fangs.

She dropped to the ground, right on the beat. “How are you doing, A?”

“I’m fine. I like it here,” she replied, glaring at the obviously-underage kid who attempted to grab a shot. They took their hand back as if burned.

Erica smirked, rising to her feet slowly. Allison appreciated the sight.

“I can see that,” Erica yelled down, laughing when Allison rolled her eyes. She had no idea how Erica could even see her from up there; the multi-coloured lights should have been dizzying from up there.

She walked back to the bar, dodging an overenthusiastic fairy on her way, and practically collapsed on the counter. Danny, the bartender, laughed at her.

“Rough first night?” he asked, quickly supplying her with several cocktails and shots. He leaned his elbows on the counter.

“Nah, just wild. I’m not used to this.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be good in no time,” Danny said, winking at a waving customer down the counter. He stepped away to give them their order and came back a moment later.

"You think so? I've had like, one day of training," Allison admitted. Danny laughed and shook his head.

"Satomi wouldn't have let you work if she thought you wouldn't be up to it. Trust me; she has  _killer_ instincts," he reassured her. 

"I haven't even met her yet."

"She doesn't come down often. I've only seen her like three times," Danny said, shrugging.

“How long have you been here?” she asked, bracing herself to walk into the sweaty mass of people again.

“Since I started college so...a year,” he replied.

“They hired you that young?”

Danny grinned, shrugging. “I’m gay, good-looking, and look older than I am. Also, I apparently have killer dimples.”

Allison laughed. “I relate,” she said then stepped away with a wave.

She plunged into the crowd again, keeping an eye out for her friends. It had been an hour, and so far she had only spotted Stiles, dressed like some kind of a bird, sans the beak. He had been dancing, or at least trying to from the looks of it, with several forest nymphs.

An arm wrapped her waist, making her freeze. She braced herself and turned to fight, glasses on her tray be damned, when Scott’s face came into view and rested on her shoulder. Her heart sped up.

He grinned at her, swaying with the beat of the song. She was hyper-aware of every single inch of her body touching his.

She squinted down at him. “Are you drunk?”

His grin got wider. “Drank some at home,” he explained. Allison looked at him more closely.

“What are you supposed to be?” she asked finally, stumped.

There was a fake red flower behind his ear, and his eyeshadow was also red, while his shirt was a deep green. The shape of the flower threw her off; she had never seen anything like that.

“Mountain ash,” he said. He giggled and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Allison’s breath stuttered.

She turned as she felt someone right in front of her and froze again. Isaac was standing close to them, looking down at Scott with a fond expression on his face.

He was also a forest nymph like her; there was green and blue eyeshadow around his eyes and little flowers in his curls. His white button down was half-tucked in his jeans and unbuttoned down to his collarbones. There was body glitter involved. Allison swallowed.

She needed to have a long talk with Lydia about her styling methods.

Scott raised his head to grin at his boyfriend. He still hadn’t let go of Allison, even as people stepped around him to grab drinks. “Hey, babe,” he greeted.

Isaac sighed. He looked down at her and gave her a small grin. “Hi Allison. Sorry about him.”

“It’s fine. He’s keeping the creeps away.”

“Good,” Scott said, his voice rough. Allison’s stomach clenched.

Isaac rolled his eyes and stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Allison, too.

_What was happening?_

“Come on, Scott,” Isaac urged. “Allison has to work. We can dance with her another time.”

“Promise?” Scott said, finally withdrawing his arms and stepping to the side to fully wrap his arms around Isaac. Isaac sighed but he was smiling.

“I promise,” he said. Scott kissed him enthusiastically in response.

……….and did not resurface for several moments.

Allison turned away from them hastily, going back to the bar. Maybe she should have drunk a bit beforehand, too, she thought, just as she stumbled into something solid.

She looked up; she had stumbled into someone dressed as an owl, yellow contacts staring down at her. They smiled apologetically, muscular arms steadying her.

“Sorry, gorgeous,” they said, and stepped away from her, disappearing into the crowd.

She stared after them for a moment, then shrugged and continued on her way to the bar.

* * *

She was on her break when Lydia came stumbling out of the crowd, hair a mess (or as much of a mess as it could get on Lydia) and lipstick stains all over her collarbones. She had dressed as a woodland elf in a dark green romper with a gold rope belt, pointy ears, golden eyelids and dark green liquid lipstick. She looked good of course, but it surprised Allison; she looked more like a fairy than an elf.

Lydia curled an arm around Allison’s shoulders and leaned into her, looking at her through her eyelashes. “Don’t look right now but this fucking _creep_ won’t stop following me around even though I’ve told him I’m gay like a thousand times. You know what he fucking said?” she asked, flipping her hair out of her face irritably. “He said college kids do all sorts of experiments and that he could be mine.”

Allison made a noise of disgust, then looked around as casually as possible. A middle-aged man was sitting at the other end of the bar, staring right at Lydia. He was good looking for an old guy she supposed, his scruffy face all angles, but the way he stared at Lydia made her blood boil.

“You want me to kick him out?” Allison asked, getting off the stool. Lydia shook her head.

“No, come dance with me. That should keep him away,” Lydia suggested and pulled her to the dancefloor.

“Okay but I need to get back to work in a bit,” Allison reminded her, grabbing onto Lydia’s waist. She hadn’t gone out in ages, but her hips moved easily, fitting with Lydia’s like puzzle pieces.

Malia appeared out of nowhere one song later, wedging themselves in-between her and Lydia’s bodies. They looked to be enjoying themselves, all sweaty and glittery. They had dressed as a fox, like Kira, with sharp, orange eyeliner, and a white romper that barely covered anything, much like Allison.

Malia grinned at her, noticing her looking, and danced down her body slowly, then got up facing Lydia. Allison stared, slightly open-mouthed as they kissed hard; she definitely saw Malia bite down on Lydia’s lip.

Arms snaked around her waist from behind; it was Kira. Her eye makeup was dark and smokey, and she was wearing a dark orange bodycon dress. Her hair was gelled back and her already prominent cheekbones contoured to a T. Lydia had really outdone herself tonight, Allison thought faintly as Kira planted kisses from her ear down to her shoulder.

Malia turned as if summoned, and stared at Kira weirdly for a moment before kissing Allison hard enough to bruise. Allison froze a little, surprised; she still wasn’t exactly sure how much Malia actually liked her, but she responded anyway, sucking on Malia’s lower lip and licking her way into their mouth. She felt, rather than heard, Malia moan.

She pulled back with a harsh breath, untangling her hand from Malia’s hair. She couldn’t even remember putting her hand in their hair. “I gotta get back to work,” she announced hoarsely, not moving from her spot between Kira and Malia. Lydia, resting her head on Malia’s shoulder, grinned knowingly at her.

“Then go,” Malia muttered, kissing the shoulder Kira wasn’t occupying. Allison groaned as she felt- was it Kira or Malia? who even knew or cared anymore?- someone bite down at the base of her neck. She looked down, eyes hooded; it had been Malia, who was now in the process of licking the spot. Lydia untangled herself from Malia and pushed her off to the bar, laughing.

“Go do your job and stop encouraging our drunk asses,” Lydia commanded, still laughing, and pulled Kira and Malia deeper into the dance floor. Allison stumbled back to the bar to retrieve drinks, feeling dazed.

Danny took one look at her and wolf-whistled. Allison collapsed on a stool and hid her face in her hands, giggling.

“Had a good break, did you?” Danny asked, starting to make new drinks for her.

Allison glared at him playfully. “Don’t you have customers to flirt with?” she grumbled. Danny laughed.

“Plenty, but seeing you this wrecked reminded me of how long it’s been since I last saw my boyfriend.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

Danny snorted, going off to pour more shots for a group of gnomes. “You don’t need to sound so surprised,” he said, returning. “ His name is Jackson. He’s taking a year off but his parents are forcing him to travel with them.”

“Is he rich?” Allison asked, curious despite herself.

“Yup. He’s in like, Singapore right now, I think. I don’t even remember.”

“What an awful life,” Allison said, hauling the tray off the counter. Danny shook his head.

“You’re telling me,” he muttered.

“When is he coming back?”

“He’s going to try and escape his parents’ clutches before Thanksgiving,” Danny said, smiling distractedly.

“Well I hope so,” Allison said, stepping away from the bar. She saw Danny mouth “me too” before the dancing crowd cut her view off.

* * *

 “I’m starting to think that after-work drinks were not such a good idea,” Boyd declared a few hours later when they were walking home from the club. Allison shook her head and whined at the dizziness it brought.

“I’m _slightly_ drunk not deaf,” she reminded them all, holding on to Scott and Isaac a little more tightly as she stumbled again.

After the club had closed, her friends (she giggled at that; she still couldn’t believe she had friends now!) had waited for her and Danny to finish cleaning up. Someone (it might have been Danny) had insisted on celebrating Allison’s first successful night at work with drinks.

And now here she was, being supported by Scott and Isaac while she giggled and stumbled around like a newborn deer.

She stopped walking and whined again. “My feet hurt.”

“Well who was it that insisted on _walking_ home?” Lydia called out a few feet behind her. She was walking arm in arm with Kira and Malia who were significantly more sober. She squinted at Stiles who was closer to her, walking with Boyd and Erica. Erica was supporting much of his weight.

“Why are we the drunkest here?” she grumbled.

Stiles snorted. “Freaky metabolisms,” he explained. Allison frowned while Scott and Isaac exchanged a look over her head.

“Alright,” Scott said, squatting down in front of her. Allison looked at him questioningly.

She yelped as she felt strong arms haul her up from her waist and onto Scott’s back. Isaac stepped away smirking, completely ignoring Allison as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Scott’s hands closed around her legs and started walking again. Allison pretended not to care which was easy in her _slightly_ drunk state. She put her head down on the nape of his neck and stared at Isaac’s profile, sharp in the dark of the night.

“You’re very pretty,” she mumbled. She must have said it louder than she had intended because Isaac glanced at her sharply. The smile he gave her was small but true.

“Thanks,” he said quietly. She hummed in response and nuzzled closer into Scott’s back, feeling very sleepy all of a sudden.

A thought that had been wriggling at her for most of the night finally made itself known. She raised her head slightly so everyone could hear her. “Where’s Liam?”

“He went back to his apartment around 2,” Scott replied. Allison rested her chin on his shoulder to look at him properly. He looked very casual and calm, as if Allison was barely any weight on his back.

“With a girl,” Stiles supplied behind her gleefully. Erica and Malia wolf-whistled and laughed.

“Was it that girl he’s been talking about since last year?” Isaac asked, eyes wide. Allison, dizzy from turning her head everywhere, let it rest back on the nape of Scott’s neck, eyes on Isaac.

“The girl we’ve never met?” Scott asked. His voice sounded weird even to Allison’s drunk ears. Isaac sent him a _look_.

Scott sighed. “I know, I know I shouldn’t get so….”

“Weird?” Malia added. Scott’s hands tightened around her thighs.

“Overprotective,” Isaac corrected. He smiled down at Scott, as easy as breathing. Allison closed her eyes for a moment.

Scott grumbled something under his breath that made Isaac roll his eyes. She realized with a jolt that they were almost at their building as they passed by a familiar-looking thrift shop.

“Wait,” Allison said, sitting up as much as she could in her position. Scott stopped walking and turned to look at her questioningly but she was looking at Isaac.

“Switch,” she giggled. Scott gasped.

“Am I not good enough for you anymore?” Scott asked teasingly.

“No,” she said, grinning as Isaac snorted and bent besides Scott. They made the switch easily and Allison settled down on Isaac’s back, pleased. His back was slightly less wider than Scott’s, but she could feel an almost surprising amount of muscle under her.

They started walking again. Allison felt her eyes close as they entered their building . “Goodnight,” she yawned.

“Allison?” Scott called out. “Hey-”

She was asleep before she could hear the rest of his sentence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who Owl-Guy and Girl The Pack Hasn't Met are :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey,” he greeted. “Sorry, we’ll be back soon. We got something to take care of,” he explained, then just walked out with Liam in tow.
> 
> Allison sent a questioning look to Isaac. He shrugged but she got the feeling he knew more than he let on.
> 
> And it hadn’t been the first time she felt that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess whos back with a brand new chapter???????? it me
> 
> this chapter came out a little shorter than the last but what can u do amirite
> 
> enjoy anyway and leave feedback if u can xoxo

Allison awoke suddenly, as if pulled right out of sleep. She refused to open her eyes on principle. Maybe she was still sleeping and this was a very weird dream.

“Wakey wakey eggs and bakeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”

Guess not.

“Shut the fuck up,” she mumbled. The laugh that followed pounded her temples. She groaned.

“Come on, Ally, you gotta get up,” Stiles urged. Allison, still barely awake and hazy altogether, was pretty sure she felt the bed dip. She cracked her left eyelid open.

She had been right. Stiles was sitting on the edge of her bed, grinning. His hair was a mess as always but he looked wide awake and definitely not as hungover as she felt at the moment. She huffed and closed her eyes, burrowing deeper into the pillow.

“Allisoooooooooon, get up.”

“How did you even get in my house?” she groaned, giving up and slowly turning on her back. She stared up at the ceiling forlornly; her head felt like it was splitting and there was way too much light in the room. Stiles laughed at her expression.

“I have my ways,” he said cryptically, crawling up the bed to lie down beside her. "Anyway, I'm here to retrieve you for the After-Nightclub Ritual.”

She blinked as he leaned on his elbow, his face coming into her line of vision. She snorted.

“Of course,” she said, sitting up and leaning back on the headboard slowly. Stiles copied her and opened his arms as an offer.

“Well, what does this ritual entail?,” she wondered, getting comfortable in Stiles’ side. She had no idea what time it was, but it wasn’t very hot yet, which made snuggling bearable.

“Isaac makes us all this like,” he paused for a moment, looking like he was trying to swallow something unpleasant “grilled cheese,” he finished lamely. Allison grinned.

“Come on Stiles. It’s ok to compliment Isaac. He deserves it.”

“It goes against everything I stand for,” he disagreed, smirking as Allison shook her head. “Well anyway, he does his thing, and, Erica,Scott, Malia, all give us their Ultimate Cuddle Special. Sometimes Boyd, Isaac himself, and Liam join, too.”

“You treat hangovers with cuddling?”

“They’re all spectacular cuddlers,” Stiles said defensively. “I got a treatment this morning; 10/10 would do again,” he paused, pursing his lips. “Okay that sounded waaaaaaaaaaay too wrong.”

Allison giggled. “Fine. Take me to this ritual you speak of.”

He jumped off the bed and whooped, cringing in apology when Allison groaned again.

Alcohol _sucked._

* * *

“Guess who I just raised from the dead!” Stiles called out when they entered Scott’s apartment half an hour later, Allison freshly showered and dressed in black cotton shorts and a blue tank top. She still, somehow, had glitter in her hair.

She slapped his arm and shushed him, grabbing her head with the other. He yelped.

“You deserved that,” Isaac said, coming to greet them from the living room. His grey t-shirt was rumpled on his side and his hair was a mess. She gave him a small grin.

“Good morning,” he told her, breezing past her and Stiles to go in the kitchen. “How’s your stomach feeling?”

She considered for a moment. “Could be worse.”

He smirked. “Good. Go in the living room and I’ll be right there.”

“So Isaac,” Stiles said as she slipped away from him “about that grilled cheese-”

“You had two already,” Isaac interrupted. She grinned, settling in the couch beside Erica who rolled her eyes at her.

“They have this argument _every_ time,” she said, opening her arms for Allison. It was odd, but as soon as Erica touched her it was like all the pain in her body and head were sucked out of her. She sighed in relief and settled deeper into Erica and the couch. Malia was beside her, cuddling Kira, who looked asleep. Lydia was curled up on the other couch with a book. She waved at her when she caught her looking.

“Where are the others?,” she asked. Scott, Liam and Boyd were nowhere to be seen.

“Boyd is working,” Erica explained. “Scott is having a Big Daddy Talk with Liam.”

Malia snorted. Allison looked at Erica with wide eyes.

“What she means is,” Isaac started, coming into the living room with her grilled cheese “Scott is like...a father figure to Liam and he’s worried.”

She accepted the food gratefully. Isaac settled down on the floor in front of her. Stiles flopped down on the couch beside Lydia.

“Why? Is it about that girl again? Isn’t Liam kinda...old for Scott to worry?”

“Liam could be older than Scott and Scott would still act like he raised him his whole life,” Stiles said fondly. His head had migrated in the free space in  Lydia’s lap. “It’s who he is.”

Allison still couldn’t understand why that girl was upsetting Scott so much but she decided to drop it, biting into the grilled cheese instead.

She let out an involuntary moan. “Holy shit, Isaac,” she said simply.

Isaac actually _blushed_. Stiles started snickering until Lydia shut him up with a withering look.

“Thanks,” Isaac said. His cheeks returned to their normal colour.

"You were right, Stiles," Allison admitted, taking another bite and swallowing. "10/10 would do again." Stiles snorted. Isaac gave her a questioning look which she shrugged at, grinning cheekily.

They all turned as they heard the door open, Liam and Scott entering the apartment. Liam did not look very happy.

“Come here, kid,” Isaac said, opening his arms to Liam. Liam settled down beside him with a sigh. Scott went to his room and closed the door.

Isaac started talking to Liam in a low voice. It felt wrong to eavesdrop so she just ate quietly. After a moment, she looked towards Lydia who was still immersed in her book.

“What are you reading?”

“ _The Bacchae,”_ she said casually. Allison was not surprised in the least.

“The original Ancient Greek text,” Stiles clarified. He grinned at the look on Allison’s face.

Lydia shrugged. “I felt like doing some light reading.”

Isaac and Allison shared a look. Isaac’s face showed no surprise at all.

“Liam,” Scott called out. Everyone turned to look at him; he had his keys and two helmets in his hand (of course he rode a motorcycle, Allison thought, a little hysterical) and he was looking at Liam expectantly. Liam got up without asking any questions.

Scott looked at her then as if sensing her gaze. He smiled.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Sorry, we’ll be back soon. We got something to take care of,” he explained, then just walked out with Liam in tow.

Allison sent a questioning look to Isaac. He shrugged but she got the feeling he knew more than he let on.

And it hadn’t been the first time she felt that way.

* * *

Later that afternoon, she decided to go for a run. She felt anxious and restless, and running always helped clear her head. The park was full of people enjoying the last days of their vacation, but Allison didn’t mind as long as no little kids got in her way. She didn’t really know how to deal with them.

She concentrated on her breathing and the music in her ears instead, making sure to keep her pace steady. She nodded at the other runners as she passed, but no one bothered her.

She turned to look as she felt someone beside her, thinking she had spoken too soon, but to her surprise it was Danny also in running gear, his earphones dangling around his neck. She took her own out, smiling.

“Hey coworker,” Danny greeted, his smile brighter than the afternoon sun. Honestly was it something in the water? Why was everyone from Beacon Hills so good looking?

“Hi,” she said. “You don’t look hangover,” she accused.

“Neither do you,” he retorted.

“Isaac’s grilled cheese healed me,” she said, only half-joking. Danny laughed.

“Oh, I know. I’ve had one of those before,” he said. They moved out of the way of a stroller in unison without speaking for a moment. Danny was the first to break the short silence.

“What’s wrong?,” he asked. She slowed down until she stopped running, surprised. He copied her movements easily.

“Nothing,” she lied. “Why?”

He gave her a “bullshit” look that looked almost natural on his face. He sighed.

“I know we don’t know each other that well, yet, but you can trust me. You know that, right?”

She considered that for a moment. She was an Argent, which meant she wasn’t very big on the whole sharing thing; she had hardly shared anything about her past with her new friends.

But this was different.

She needed someone neutral.

She started jogging again, Danny a steady presence by her side. “I don’t know,” she started “maybe I’m just overthinking things.”

Danny hummed in acknowledgment but otherwise stayed quiet. She slowed down again, having spotted an empty bench, and gestured for Danny to sit with her. They settled down, Allison sitting cross-legged on the bench, her knee touching his. She waited till he had drunk some water before speaking again.

“I think they’re hiding something from me,” she said finally, knowing it to be true as soon as she said it out loud.

“You haven’t asked them, have you?” Danny asked. He nodded at the shake of her head.

“Have you ever heard anything….unusual about Beacon Hills?”

She frowned. “No. I wasn’t even in Cali until a few weeks ago.”

He stared off into the distance thoughtfully for a moment before meeting her eyes again. He looked serious.

“Here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna go home and research Beacon Hills. Then, you’re going to write down everything odd you’ve noticed about...everyone, and when you draw your conclusions, you text me okay? However,” he said, emphasizing the last word “here’s my advice; try not to get angry, or too upset, alright? They have their secrets to protect you, and themselves.”

She stared at him for a moment. “You totally know what’s going on here, don’t you?”

The corner of his mouth rose in wry amusement. “I knew before they knew I knew.”

His smile faded as he saw something in her face. “Hey,” he said, putting a comforting hand on her knee. “they like you; and they’re starting to trust you. I promise they’ll explain everything eventually.”

She sighed and nodded. He stretched his arms and got up, patting her shoulder this time.”I gotta go, but text me, okay? Promise?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Danny,” she said. He winked, then turned to jog back the way he came from.

She rubbed a hand down her face, staring blankly at the set of swings in the distance for a moment, then got up to jog back, too.

She had work to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Werewolves,” she muttered out loud as she poured a glass of sangria. “Werewolves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello children it's fun time
> 
> things are finally happening! yay! 
> 
> reminder to reblog this post if u can: http://andrvmaches.tumblr.com/post/139695296253/writingediting-commissions and also leave comments/kudos/positive or negative feedback 
> 
> enjoy xoxo

Allison had been almost scared to even start researching when she got home from her run, but once she started she couldn’t stop. Beacon Hills was _weird._

About five years ago, a girl had been found cut in _half_ with animal marks (scratches and bites) everywhere on...the two halves of her body. And a few years before that? An entire family had been burned to death.

In their own home.

But those were just the oldest she had found without having to go back more than a decade; the more time progressed, the wilder things seem to get. More strange animal attacks, shootings, mass deaths...more strange animal incidents. Generally way too much excitement for a small town.

She remembered those incidents from her own perspective; around that time, her dad would get calls often. Sometimes he’d leave in the middle of the night with no explanation and he’d be gone for days. Mom would go sometimes, too, claiming she had things to do in the Argent property in the town.

And one day, she had not returned.

And neither had her aunt.

Or her grandpa.

She took a shaky breath and ran her hand through her hair again, glancing at the notepad beside her. She had scribbled down all the similarities between the stories; most of them had an animal element.

(And way too much death)

Hesitantly, feeling too much like Bella from _Twilight_ , she started typing “werewolf legends” when a thought hit her. Her aunt had told her about a legend long ago, under the exasperated frown of her dad.

 _La Bête du Gévaudan_ ; the first reported werewolf. An Argent girl, her aunt had told her, had killed it.

She got up quickly and pulled her jewelry box out of the bottom of her closet, finding what she was looking for immediately. It was the Argent necklace, an old family heirloom, with a depiction of the Beast in the very center.

Her aunt had given her that, too, she thought faintly, and put it on.

She hadn’t thought about her aunt in ages; she had gone back to Beacon Hills 5 years ago for God knows what and she hadn’t spoken to her since.

Questions to her parents had proved utterly useless; all they would say had been that she had gotten into some kind of trouble and that she needed to fall off the map for a while. Allison wondered how far she had “fallen”.

It had hurt Allison, and it still did. Her aunt had been more like a sister to her. She had been young, and beautiful, and cool, and she had treated Allison like an equal, not like a child that needed to be shielded from everyone and everything.

What would her aunt do now?

She walked back to her desk and sat down determinedly, pulling her notepad to her. She made a list of werewolf traits she had found; quick reflexes, superhuman strength, speed, enhanced senses, fangs and claws and glowing eyes, irritability.

Her hand moved quicker as things she hadn’t paid much attention to came to the forefront of her mind;  Erica’s strength when she pulled her up from the couch, Scott growling and jumping on Stiles and Erica, Scott knowing where Isaac was before Allison had even seen him, Boyd carrying her couch with barely any help, all of them referring to their group as a “pack”.

Could it be?

Was it possible?

Allison made a decision she had never made before then.

She desperately needed to go buy a drink.

* * *

Back in her apartment and armed with a bottle of sangria (thank you, fake ID) and several macarons she had happened to come across in a tiny coffee shop, she was ready to admit to herself that she might have been very close to freaking out.

“Werewolves,” she muttered out loud as she poured a glass of sangria. “Werewolves.”

She gripped her glass with two hands to hide her shaking, and took a big gulp. Her phone rang out then, making her jump. She stared at it buzzing on top of her notepad for a moment, then picked it up as she noticed that it was Danny calling.

“Danny,” she greeted without preamble. “You need to come over. _Now._ ”

There was silence on the other side of the line for a moment. Then Danny sighed. “I’ll be there in 20.”

She hung up without saying goodbye and munched on a raspberry macaron, refusing to think too much for the moment. She decided to put on music; angry French rap that would distract her until Danny came.

And it worked. Nearly half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, interrupting her right in the middle of _Sexion D’Assaut_ ’s “Désolé”. She paused her music and went to open it, her glass in hand. Danny took one look at her and shook his head, taking his shoes off by the doorway. Then, like the rude person he was deep inside, he stole her glass on the way to her room and took a sip from it, grimacing slightly. Allison took it back from him, huffing, and sat on the bed.

“That’s what you get for stealing my drink.”

He shrugged. “I hadn’t pegged you for such a wine mom,” he said, sitting down by her desk. “Where are they?”

She glanced towards the door. “I heard them leaving like ten minutes ago.”

“To go where?”

She shrugged, then looked at her notepad resting by his elbow. He followed her gaze and read through them carefully, the light smile disappearing from his face.

“You’re very observant,” he said after a moment.

She said nothing, opting to fill her glass again in silence. She took an almond macaron this time and offered him some. He shook his head.

“I don’t know,” she said then, sitting up cross-legged on her bed. “It’s more like...things are finally falling into place.”

He looked at her questioningly. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and shrugged, trying to seem calmer than she really was.

“My family has some secrets, too.” That was an understatement, she thought. “And as much explaining to do as Scott and the rest.”

He tilted his head and stared at her, thinking. Then he smirked lightly. “I'm not getting in the middle of that,” he declared, coming to sit on the bed besides Allison. “But you remember what I said in the park, right?”

“They care about me,” she mumbled.

“They do,” Danny confirmed. “Which is why they owe you an explanation and you owe them at least some understanding. I know, I know,” Danny started, lifting a hand to stop Allison from interrupting “it’s hard to understand that...kind of thing, but trust me when I say that after a while it just...won’t even occur to you how crazy it all is.”

She sighed, staring down into her glass. “I’m starting to feel like Bella from _Twilight_.”

He laughed. “Scott is absolutely nothing like Edward Cullen.”

“Thank God,” she said. He laughed again.

“And Bella was in love with Edward,” he said and looked at her suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. She ate another macaron in distress.

“We’re not getting into this conversation today,” was her only response. He shook his head, amused. She stopped chewing slowly, turning to look at him in horror.

“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do vampires exist?” she asked, struggling to keep the rising panic out of her voice. He looked horrifyingly thoughtful for a moment.

“Don’t know,” he admitted finally. “Never met one. I hope not though; I don’t think I can handle any more supernatural creatures for at least the next decade.”

She agreed wholeheartedly. She offered him a macaron again. He took one this time and they chewed together silently.

* * *

Another half hour later, after Danny had departed, she picked up the phone hesitantly and sent her dad a text.

Allison: _Are you free to talk?_

Dad: _Yes. Is everything alright?_

Allison: _Can I Skype you?_

A Skype call came through instead of a text. Allison sat in front of her laptop quickly and accepted the call, making sure to keep the sangria out of the way.

“Allison,” her dad greeted, appearing in her screen. He looked older than she remembered, his hair more grey than before, and the wrinkles around his eyes deeper. He looked very tired.

A faint pang of anxiety and guilt went through her. She ignored it.

“Hey, Dad.”

“We haven’t spoken in almost half a year, Ally,” he reminded her. He sounded more sad than angry.

“I had my reasons, “ she said, not paying attention to the raise of his eyebrows. “Do you believe in werewolves?”

He seemed startled by the quick change of topic, but the surprise quickly faded to a tired, resigned look.

“What do you know?” he asked instead of answering her question, which was such an Argent thing to do she nearly laughed.

With a slight shock she realized that she could not give her friends away. If they were truly werewolves, and her family was somehow involved in...everything, her telling her Dad might put them in actual danger.

“I...I think I saw one. Two nights ago,” she lied. He looked concerned, unable to register the lie (a bad one even by her standards; she always had a hard time lying to her dad) through the screen.

“Are you alright?” he asked sharply.

She nodded. “He didn’t attack me. I just...I definitely saw fangs. And those eyes were not natural.”

“And you’re sure it was a werewolf?”

_What else could it have been?_

“I’m sure. Why did you never tell me? And how do you know?”

He pursed his lips for a moment. “Do you remember the story of the Beast? The one Kate told you?”

She nodded. He sighed in response.

“Marie-Jeanne was the first hunter, and the first one in the Argent line, but certainly not the last.”

She stared at him for a moment, letting his words sink in. “Are you...are you telling me we’re werewolf hunters?”

He did not answer.

She sighed, in the same manner he had, and brought her knees to her chest, hugging them. “All those road trips, all those animal attacks, all those deaths…”

He nodded at her silent question. She swore under her breath.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why all the secrecy?”

“Kate wanted to,” he said “and so did your mother. But Father and I...we did not think you were...ready. Not at the time. You were quite a rebel, if you remember.”

“That lasted like two months,” she said defensively. He was referring to her sophomore year of high school when she had made her parents life hell.

When they _were_ home.

“At any rate, we disagreed on the when and the how, so it never happened.”

“Where is Kate?” she asked suddenly.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” she asked, her jaw clenching. He stared back at her, unflinching.

“I thought she was dead, but we never found her body.”

Her mouth opened, but no sound seemed to be coming out. She cleared her throat.

“Dead?”

“Werewolf,” he replied tightly.

She looked at him questioningly. He looked off to the distance for a moment.

“Your aunt was responsible for the Hale fire,” he admitted at last. Allison went rigid.

The Hale fire.

The family that had been burned alive in their own home.

Her _aunt_ had done that.

“I gotta go,” she replied, throat closing up.

“Allison-” he started. She disconnected the call and he disappeared.

She did not want to hear any more.

* * *

She was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling when she heard a knock. She did not react.

Another knock. “Allison?”

She closed her eyes. She had no idea if she could face Scott right now but it wasn’t like she could ignore him. If he really was a werewolf, he probably knew she was here. A shiver- a late reaction- went through her body at the thought.

She got up slowly, willing the room to stop tilting. The sugar from the macarons had helped her get tipsier than she would have gotten from sangria alone, but not tipsy enough, she thought grudgingly.

She walked to the door and paused, hand over the lock.

What would she even say?

She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and opened it. Scott paused with his fist in the air, as if he had been about to knock again.

He let his hand drop to his side and smiled, but there was worry in his eyes. “Hi.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. “Hi.”

There was silence for a moment. He looked at her carefully. “Can I come in?”

She let him pass without comment, at the same time realizing that Scott hadn’t been in her apartment, yet.

He seemed to realize it, too. He grinned. “Nice place.”

“Thanks,” she said, and dropped on her couch. He sat down on the armchair.

“So,” she started awkwardly “what’s up?”

He tilted his head questioningly (like an overgrown puppy, she thought wildly) and leaned forward in the armchair.

“Allison, what’s wrong?”

She considered that question for a moment. Then, despite every single instinct in her body, she looked him straight in the eye and leaned forward.

“Are you a werewolf?”

He froze, his jaw dropping open. He struggled for words, sitting up straight. “I-”

“You are,” she said, inhaling sharply. “Oh, my God.”

He stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. “How did you...how did you know? How did you find out? When?”

“I knew you were hiding something big from me,” she said, almost breathlessly “so I... I did some digging. Beacon Hills sounds wild.”

He exhaled through his nose then sat back in the armchair, looking almost exhausted. “Understatement,” he mumbled. He hadn’t stopped looking at her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You figured it out very quickly,” he explained. He still had that weird look on his face, like he expected her to bolt any minute.

But how could she? Werewolf or not, Scott looked like he had never hurt a fly in his life. For God’s sake the guy called his mom every week and worked at an animal clinic. He loved taking care of _puppies_.

And every single one of their group, from Boyd to Liam, were her friends.

And Allison Argent did not give up on her friends.

She smirked, trying her best to lighten the mood; she didn’t like the look on Scott’s face, like he was carrying the burden of the world on his shoulders.

“You guys haven’t been exactly subtle.”

He shook his head, a small smile on his lips. “I’ve heard that one before.”

They grinned at each other for a moment. Then Scott’s face went serious again and he leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“Are you alright?”, he asked, examining her face with worried eyes. She leaned forward, too, and clasped his hands between hers. His were very warm.

“I just discovered my best friends are supernatural creatures, no big deal,” she said, shrugging. He smiled weakly at her and bowed his head. Her hand came up, as if on their own accord, and caressed his hair, then moved to cradle his cheek; she couldn’t stand seeing him like this.

He raised his head slowly, but Allison’s hand did not move from its spot on his cheek. A moment of charged silence passed between them.

Scott leaned back suddenly, breaking it. He took a deep breath and Allison cleared her throat, letting go of his hands and leaning back, too.

“Listen, I’m kinda exhausted from uh, research, and finding out that werewolves exist and all that stuff, so, uh, I should get to bed.”

Scott got up quickly.”Of course,” he said, refusing to meet her eyes. “I’ll let you rest and we’ll talk tomorrow okay?”

She nodded, following him to the door. He turned and met her eyes then, a corner of his mouth lifting up. Then he paused, eyes on her….

Chest? She looked down. No. He was looking at her necklace with a slight frown, looking almost confused.

“Family heirloom,” she explained. He shook his head as if to clear it.

“Sorry. I just think I’ve seen it somewhere before. Anyway, uh, goodnight,” he said softly, and turned to go into his apartment.

“Goodnight,” she replied, closing the door on his tense back. She waited to hear his own door close before letting her head fall back on hers.

“Buckle up, children,” she murmured, quoting Stiles from what seemed like a long time ago. “Shit’s about to go down.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison blinked, then set her head down on the bar counter slowly, causing Danny to snort.
> 
> How had her life come to this? And why was she so okay with it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's up y'all im back with this week's rendition of Allison Argent Is Bisexual Of Course Shes In Love With Two People At Once ft. Belated I'm a Werewolf Hunter Freak out 
> 
> enjoy this (always) un-beta'd gay mess and remember to reblog my commissions post on tumblr if u cant give me money urself thank u xoxo 
> 
> http://andrvmaches.tumblr.com/post/139695296253/writingediting-commissions

The next morning found Allison knocking on Scott and Isaac’s door nervously, still in her pajamas. She had barely slept, having felt way too jittery after her discoveries, and had sprung out of bed, breakfast already eaten and teeth and hair brushed at 10 am sharp, when she knew the guys would usually be up.

And she had been right. Isaac opened the door a moment later with a coffee mug in hand, curly hair adorably mussed and eyes still puffy from sleep. He gave her a small smile.

“Good morning,” he greeted, opening the door wider so she could pass. She smiled at him and walked right into the living room, plopping down on the loveseat that was bathed in warm sunlight.

“Good morning,” she replied, a yawn escaping her. She watched him as he sat down on the couch, sipping his (black) coffee.

“Where’s Scott?”

Isaac blushed at this; Allison’s eyes narrowed. “Sleeping,” he said.

She clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Did you tire him out last night?”

Isaac glared at her but the effect was ruined by how red his cheeks had gone. She grinned teasingly and got up to sit beside him. She patted his leg.

“I’m not judging,” she said, laughing when Isaac fake-attempted to swat at her.

“Shut up,” he murmured, refusing to make eye contact with her.

She settled deeper into the couch, the smile fading off her face. “So, uh,”

“Scott told me,” Isaac said, predicting her question. She exhaled.

“You know I got questions right?”

He shrugged, drawing her eyes to the line of his shoulders for a moment. She looked back at him quickly but he hadn’t looked up from his mug.

“Understandable,” he said. He placed his mug on the table and turned to look at her, blue eyes guarded. “You want me to wake up Scott first?”

“No need.”

They both jumped at Scott’s voice, turning to look at him standing at the end of the hallway. His hair was also a mess, and he was just in his boxers, holding a bundle of clothes in one hand.

Allison should have slept in this morning.

Isaac rolled his eyes, recovering from his short surprise. “I hate when you do that.”

Scott grinned cheekily. “I’ll be right with you,” he said, and went into the bathroom. She heard the shower running a moment later.

Isaac gave a long-suffering sigh, but the corner of his mouth was twitching like he was holding back a smile.

“How long have you guys known each other?”

He looked at her again, surprised at the line of questioning. “Uh, since we were around….16? Sophomore year. I’d just moved back to Beacon Hills and gotten the bite and he realized there was another werewolf in the changing room during lacrosse.”

“And he knew it was you right away?”

Isaac snorted, a full-blown smile on his face at the memory. “No. Too many different smells in the changing room. He thought it would be a great idea to tackle an entire team of lacrosse players and sniff them out individually instead.”

She gasped, giggling. “No.”

He smiled harder. “Yes. It didn’t really work but he found out anyway when the cops came,” he said, his face twisting.

She frowned. “The cops?”

He stared at her for a moment. “My dad had just been found dead, and I was the prime suspect.”

“You,” she stuttered “you were the prime suspect? Why? Did they know-”

He snorted. “No, no, no one in the police force knew about the supernatural at the time, but...I had a motive, I guess.” Here, his mouth twisted unpleasantly.

Dread settled in Allison’s stomach. “Why?” she asked hesitantly.

He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. His biceps bunched. “My dad used to hit me. Up until the day of his death.”

Allison went very still, no idea how to respond something like that. Scott, the wonderful person that he was, chose that moment to come out of the bathroom, already dressed in the grey t-shirt and black khaki shorts he had been carrying.

He came and sat wordlessly on the couch, gesturing for Isaac to lean back into his arms. Allison positioned herself so Isaac could throw his legs over her lap and he did so, only hesitating for a brief moment.

“You didn’t deserve that,” she said finally, fiercely willing Isaac to understand that she meant it. Scott bent down to kiss his forehead, adding to her statement.

Isaac sighed, but his eyes were bright as he stared up at Scott and then smiled at her. “I know that now.”

“So, uh, how...did it happen?”

Isaac blinked back at her, but it was Scott who understood what she meant. “How did we become werewolves?”

She nodded.

“Well,” Scott said. “get comfortable. It’s kind of a long story.”

* * *

 Nearly an hour later, Scott’s living room was occupied by the entire pack, each one of them having come at different intervals throughout Scott and Isaac’s long explanation of exactly how fucked up Beacon Hills was. Stiles’ face had stayed worryingly pale during Scott’s entire recounting of the nogitsune’s reign, and Lydia had remained completely silent when they finally explained how she got the scar around her neck.

They had been quiet for nearly a minute now, everyone lost in their thoughts and memories. Erica, who had barely hesitated before lying down with her head in her lap when she arrived, even though she had known Allison knew she was a werewolf, was the first to break the silence.

“I still can’t believe you’re a fucking Argent. You don’t even look like your parents that much,” she said, reaching up to play with a strand of Allison’s hair. Allison huffed without humour.

“You haven’t seen me angry,” she said. “I look like my mom when I’m angry.”

She felt Scott’s eyes on her and turned to look at him. He had a contemplative look on his face.

“Nah,” he said finally “you remind me of your dad a lot.”

The mention of her dad made her blood boil. She had forced Scott to tell her exactly what happened to her mom and grandfather as she doubted her father would give her a straight answer and she was _furious_ that he had let her, at the insistence of her _grandfather,_ kill herself, just because she had been bitten.

At first, a part of her had resented the Hale, Derek, for biting her.  But she had tried to kill Scott, and family or not, she could not think of a single logical reason for trying to kill Scott McCall in the first place, and karma _not_ getting back at you right after.

But she still mourned; it was like she had lost her twice.

Oh, she was going to let her dad fucking _have_ it.

Lydia and Erica sighed. “He’s hot,” they said in unison, Erica cackling “jinx!” and then yelping as Allison suddenly threw her off her lap. She tumbled down on the floor ungracefully.

“Ow,” she muttered, even though it probably barely hurt.

“He’s my _dad_ and he’s _old_ ,” she told the both of them, glaring.

Erica smirked and shrugged, dodging Allison’s halfhearted kick with a laugh. She crawled over to Boyd, on the loveseat beside Lydia, and climbed on his lap. He hadn’t even reacted at her comment about Allison’s dad.

"And you," she said, focusing her glare on Lydia "how could you?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Relax; I'm a lesbian, but I'm not a  _blind_ lesbian." Erica laughed and offered her fist for a bump, Lydia complying easily. Allison resented them both.

“Man, you’re taking this whole thing like, waaaaaaaay too calmly," Stiles said, stepping in before Allison could start fighting both girls. At the moment, he was being spooned to death by Malia on the floor. They really liked being the big spoon apparently. "Like, even Liam freaked out at first and he’s actually a werewolf." 

Liam looked up from his phone and glared at him, his shoulders hunching defensively. Scott looked at Stiles reproachfully.

“Well, I did kind of tie him up and throw him in my bathtub,” Scott reasoned. Allison grinned at the mental image of a freaked-out Scott throwing 15-year-old Liam in a bathtub. Stiles snorted, and even Lydia let out an amused huff.

“You make such bad decisions sometimes dude,” Stiles said, grinning up at him. Isaac, still in Scott’s arms, snorted.

“Sometimes?” he echoed. Scott scowled down at him without any heat, then swooped down and licked his nose in revenge. Isaac spluttered and sat up.

Allison started giggling uncontrollably at the affronted expression on Isaac’s face. Stiles, Kira, and Erica joined her, Malia barely twitching from their apparent nap, and Lydia and Boyd simply opting for twin eye rolls. Liam, she noticed, did not look up from his phone.

Isaac glared at them, which just made Allison laugh harder. He shook his head and turned to his boyfriend, who looked unbelievably smug at their reactions.

“Switch,” Isaac commanded, getting up to switch positions with Scott.

“That’s what he said,” Stiles murmured, loud enough for Allison to hear. Erica wolf-whistled in delight while Allison gasped in shocked amusement.

“True,” was all Scott said, sending them into another fit of giggles. Isaac let his head fall back it stare at the ceiling in exasperation, briefly exposing his neck. She followed the long, pale line with her eyes, her gaze falling to Scott. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized Scott was staring up at his boyfriend with the exact same expression as Allison could feel on her face, which erased any trace of amusement she had been feeling.

She was so so fucked.

So, soooooooooo fucked.

“Stop encouraging them,” Isaac said, bringing his head back down to mock-glare at Scott, who just smiled innocently at him and stretched up to nuzzle under Isaac’s jaw.

Yes, Allison thought.

_Please stop._

* * *

After ordering enough Chinese takeout to feed an entire army and a long, heated debate over the best Iron Man trilogy movie, which then lead them to marathoning said trilogy, Allison found herself in Lydia’s room again, this time with Malia and Kira present.

It was Friday, and Allison was working, which meant she had to participate in Ladies’ Night.

“Ladies’ Night at _Full Moon_ isn’t what you know from like, movies, or mainstream clubs” Kira was explaining while Allison was being attacked by Lydia in front of her vanity, trying not to sneeze as Lydia highlighted her nose. “First of all, it caters to all women, because it’s an inclusive space, even non-binary people who don’t identify, partially or not, as boys.”

Malia hummed, their head pillowed on Kira’s thighs, heedless of their short black dress and artfully messed up hair. Allison wondered, for the thousandth time, why those two hadn’t gotten together yet.

“Secondly, guys aren’t allowed in at all, except for the employees. This is _our_ time to shine,” Kira continued. She grinned at Allison through the mirror. “Us meaning queer girls and non-binary people.”

“Perfect,” Allison said, then sighed as she was finally freed from Lydia’s clutches.

Even she was pleased at what she saw in the mirror. She wasn't unaware of her appearance; she knew she was pretty, even hot, sometimes, but Lydia had outdone herself tonight. Her dress was, of course, tiny, and purple (bisexual colour!, Lydia had crowed) that hugged her hips like second skin. Lydia had put fake eyelashes on and just a thin line of black eyeliner which made her eyes look shockingly wide and deep and dark, and her lips were a dark nude tone that made them look fuller. There was glitter in the highlight on her cheekbones.

“What’s with all this glitter all the time?” Allison wondered out loud. Lydia rolled her eyes like she was being dense.

“I’m gay,” Lydia explained simply, then giggled at her own joke. Allison and Kira laughed right along with her while Malia looked up at them quizzically. They raised themselves up on their elbows. Their own eyes were lined with black kohl eyeliner which made them look even more intense, and there was a short but thick silver chain around their neck.

“I never understood that you know,” they mused. “Why are queer people associated with glitter?”

“Because straight people are boring and hate anything fun,” Lydia said, spritzing some of her perfume on Allison per her silent request.

“Like glitter," Kira finished. "Boyd is the only exception," she added. She and Lydia were the only ones still not ready, their own dresses waiting at the foot of Lydia’s bed. Kira was going to wear a strapless, backless dress in deep burgundy, and Lydia a deep, electric blue, strapless number with a slit in the cleavage area that made her breasts, according to her, look incredible.

“Exactly,” Lydia agreed, shooing Allison off the chair. “You’re next,” she told Kira.

Malia whined at the loss as Kira got up. Allison saw their eyes flash blue for a moment. She raised her eyebrows but said nothing, sitting down beside Malia who, after a moment of serious consideration, lied back down with their head on Allison’s lap.

“Wait,” Allison said. “Boyd is straight?”

Lydia snorted. “Our token.”

“He’s okay though,” Malia hummed.

Allison’s eyebrows drew together. She got the feeling Malia meant something less literal than their words implied.

“Ask him about it tomorrow,” Lydia said, noticing her look. Allison nodded and didn’t push.

“I gotta ask,” Allison began after a brief moment of silence. Lydia did not look up from Kira’s eyelids but hummed in acknowledgement.

“Do things get as gay as they did last time every time you guys go out?”

Lydia paused and snorted, going back to her work with barely a glance up. “Basically.”

Surprisingly, it was Malia who gave her an actual explanation. “Touch is good for the pack,” they said, staring past Allison’s head. “Especially for weres, you know. It means,” they hesitated, searching for the right word “belonging. Family, unless you’re mates obviously.”

“What does it mean when you’re mates?” Allison asked curiously. Malia tilted their head to look at Kira in the vanity chair.

“It means you belong to each other only,” Malia said, their voice dipping in a lower pitch. Allison was almost sure she saw Kira shiver slightly. Malia’s gaze darkened.

“Well,” Lydia said, after a few tense seconds, “that got gay pretty fast and the night hasn’t even started.”

Allison huffed in agreement, making a mental note to ask Lydia why Malia and Kira were not together later as she gazed at Malia’s dark look and Kira’s tense back.

There was not much room for unrequited feelings in this place, after all.

* * *

“Looking good, co-worker,” Danny said the moment she was inside the club, a little before the start of her shift. She grinned at him, walking into the backroom to leave her purse.

“I appreciate the lack of shirt you have going on,” she replied, coming back out. He rolled his eyes, smiling, and leaned on the counter as she dropped down on a stool. His pecs were truly impressive.

“Gotta keep some ladies satisfied,” he said. She snorted.

“Do you tell them you’re gay if they push too much?”

He shrugged. “The regulars know by now and honestly women rarely cause me problems, especially in here.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Erica said, sitting down on the stool beside her. She was already in her dance outfit; tiny, red, faux-leather shorts, and a black bustier top, and her lips were blood red as usual.

“Like you didn’t hear,” Allison said, rolling her eyes. Erica smirked.

“It’s what humans say to be politely nosy, Ally, give me a break.”

Danny snorted. The assistant manager, Brett, dropped on the stool on her other side, dressed in black faux-leather shorts and a matching vest. She would have blushed if she wasn’t so used to Erica by now.

“I didn’t know you danced,” she told him.

“Mike is sick and the others aren’t available tonight so I’m stepping in,” he explained, shrugging casually.

Erica cooed mockingly. “How kind,” she said, then yelped and ran as Brett lunged after her.

Danny rolled his eyes at the two werewolves, but he was smiling. A thought occurred to Allison.

“Is Jackson like this, too? I know his uh, supernatural experience was a little different.”

Danny sighed. “Jackson actually wanted to be a werewolf from the beginning. Yeah, his time as a kanima haunts him, mostly because he knows he did serious damage and he doesn’t remember _any_ of it. He feels...violated, you know? But he likes being a werewolf, and his attitude has improved a lot. He doesn’t show it, and he’ll probably hate me for saying this, but even though Scott isn’t his Alpha, he has mad respect for him.”

She grinned. “They never got along?”

“No,” he snorted. “We were in different circles in high school. Jackson was that douchebag jock you see in movies. He was derisive of Scott at best, when he actually acknowledged him.”

“And Scott?”

Danny grinned, lost in memories. “He was kind of...in the background of things before he became a werewolf, like any average high school kid, you know. Not weird enough to be a total outsider, but not really in the “inside” either. It was after the bite that he started to attract attention, what with joining the lacrosse team, becoming captain, and all the dangerous shit he was involved in around Beacon Hills.”

“But he never cared,” Allison stated, sure of it.

“Nah,” Danny confirmed “he never cared about cliques, popularity, power…”

“That’s why he’s a ...True Alpha?” she asked hesitantly. The concept had fascinated her ever since Scott had mentioned it in passing, but she got the feeling he didn’t like talking about his powers much.

“To be honest with you, I don’t fully understand what being a True Alpha entails but, I guess so. The foundations had to already be there before the red eyes came right?”

“Makes sense,” she said. She hadn’t even seen what they all actually looked like...wolfed out, she guessed would be the correct term, having gotten too caught up in their stories to ask.

“Oh, nothing does in this life but,” he shrugged his humongous shoulders “you take what you can get.”

She nodded, then sighed tiredly. “You sure I can’t drink before my shift?”

“I heard that,” Brett called out. She turned to look at him, laughing at the sight he made, caught in a headlock by Erica.

“Party pooper,” Erica accused, loud enough for Allison to hear. Her eyes flared yellow teasingly.

Allison blinked, then set her head down on the bar counter slowly, causing Danny to snort.

How had her life come to this? And why was she so okay with it?

* * *

Well into her shift, and practically caged in by sweaty bodies all around her, Allison felt a hand on her arm. She turned to look, but it was just Lydia, a smile on her face. Allison smiled back automatically.

“Having fun?” Allison asked, yelling to be heard over the music.

“Yes,” Lydia yelled “but that’s not what I’m here to tell you. Look over there, by the couches!”

She turned, craning her neck slightly to look over everyone’s heads, and gasped. Malia and Kira were tangled together in the corner of one of the couches, kissing furiously.

“Fucking finally!” Allison crowed in triumph.

“It was all my genius work, no doubt,” Lydia said smugly. Allison laughed.

"Why didn't they do this sooner?" she asked. Lydia huffed and shook her head.

"Because Kira was too busy having a belated bisexual freak out, and because Malia still thinks their knowledge and understanding of human emotions is inadequate for Kira," she explained. 

“I’ve already texted everyone,” Lydia added as an afterthought. “I think Stiles had a stroke. He’s been communicating in emojis and nothing else for the past half hour.”

Allison snorted. “Sounds like Stiles.”

Lydia rolled her eyes in agreement. “Well, I gotta go find someone to also make out with, and finally get drunk, in no particular order. My job here is done.”

“Have fun!” Allison called out as Lydia plunged further in the crowd. She looked back at the couch again, grinning, and set off to get more shots.

* * *

 “Maybe allowing Lydia to get so drunk wasn’t such a good idea,” Allison said later when they were all half carrying her home.

Well, Allison and Erica were doing most of the carrying, Erica in her post-work outfit that wasn’t much different from her work one.  Malia and Kira were too busy with each other.

“You’re not my mom,” Lydia slurred indignantly.“I’m an adult!”

“A very drunk one,” Allison grunted, pulling Lydia’s arm tighter around her shoulders.

“I deserve a break,” Lydia murmured. Erica looked at her sadly, an uncharacteristically solemn expression on her always-smiling (or smirking) face. Malia stiffened suddenly, turning to look back.

“What’s wrong, Malia?” Allison asked and stopped walking. Erica turned to look, too, posture suddenly alert. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kira reach into her purse to grab hold of something.

“I don’t know,” Malia replied, sounding frustrated. “I just thought I heard something.”

They started walking again, but they were all too tense to talk. Even Lydia looked more alert than before, struggling to support herself on her legs.

Allison tried to reach out with her own human senses. She didn’t hear or see anything of course but….

Her back tingled, like she was being watched.

She quickened her footsteps slightly, sighing in relief when they turned the corner onto their street.

A growl erupted from Erica; Allison paused her footsteps to look at her in shock, the hair on the back of her neck rising, but Erica kept walking. She shook her head at her to placate her, but Allison felt more on edge than ever.

The door to their building opened, Scott stepping out of it in his pajamas. He walked quickly to meet them, looking worried.

He shook his head in question but Erica didn’t reply. His mouth thinned.

“I got her,” he said, and picked up Lydia bridal-style. Lydia didn’t complain, silently wrapping her arms around Scott’s neck. They followed him, Allison looking back over her shoulder. The street was silent and dark.

Erica seemed to relax more once they were all in Scott’s apartment, kicking off her heels and sitting beside Isaac. He was in his pajamas too, but he looked alert and worried.

“What’s wrong?” Scott asked once they were all settled down. Boyd, Stiles, and Liam were the only ones absent, which made sense since it was past 3 in the morning. Lydia leaned heavily on her, struggling to stay awake.

“I swear I heard something. Someone was following us,” Malia said, sounding more frustrated than before. “But I didn’t catch a scent.”

Scott pursed his lips, looking outside thoughtfully. “Well you’re safe,” he said, turning back to them, “and there’s not much we can do right now.We just need to stay on guard the next few days, see if you sense something again,” he proposed, nodding to Malia. They nodded back seriously.

“Lydia will sleep over to mine,” Allison said. Her tone brooked no argument. “You can, too,” she told Kira, Malia and Erica. Kira nodded, Malia following suit, but Erica shook her head.

“Sorry hon, but I gotta get back to Boyd,” she said, looking outside to her building.

Allison nodded in understanding. “Well, I gotta get Lydia to bed,” she said, getting up. Kira and Malia got up and lead the way with Erica, Scott and Isaac bringing up the rear.

Erica hugged everyone, and took the stairs instead of the elevator. Allison suspected she was running.

Isaac and Scott helped get everyone in Allison’s apartment, Scott carrying Lydia to Allison’s bed.

“I feel like a baby,” Lydia grumbled. Scott snorted, unwinding her arms from around his neck and set her down on the bed, kissing her forehead.

“Goodnight, little one,” he teased, smiling when Lydia tried to swat him. She gave up and buried her head in the pillow instead, not even bothering with her heels. Allison did that for her and wondered if she should struggle with getting pajamas on her, too.

Kira and Malia kissed Lydia and Allison on each cheek and went to settle in the living room, Isaac going to oversee things.

“So, is this how it always is?” Allison asked, looking up from Lydia’s already unconscious form.

Scott shook his head. “It hasn’t been in a while.”

“Should I be scared?” Allison tried to tease, but it came out flat. Scott smiled gently, because he was an angel and this world did not deserve him.

“Of course not. We’ll be okay,” he said, and Allison believed him.

She nodded. He stared at her for a second, then sighed. “I’ll let you guys rest and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

He put his arms around her suddenly and she froze from the unexpectedness of it, simultaneously realizing that she had never really touched Scott before, not like she did with Erica, the other girls, Malia, or even Stiles.

She hugged him back and took a deep breath. She felt safe here, in the circle of Scott’s arms, like nothing could reach her.

Was this what Malia had meant about touching meaning belonging?, she wondered later that night (morning?), listening to Lydia’s steady breathing.

Belonging….mates..... Isaac and Scott were mates.

And Allison liked Scott.

And maybe Isaac.

No, no, she thought, turning to her side anxiously, she couldn’t like Isaac. She just thought he was hot.

Right?

_Right?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison beats Stiles at his own game and then someone beats her in her own turf.
> 
> And there's hand-holding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teeeeeeeeeeeeeeerribly sorry for the long wait i honestly wasn't planning on it but march break happened and then i got a tiny writer's block so here it is, 2+ weeks later,
> 
> im at- what now? 20k? and our polyamorous favs still havent kissed so i guess i gotta?? tag this as?? slowburn? wild
> 
> anyway enjoy and tell me what u think xoxoxo

 Early morning sunlight was streaming through the window when Allison finally opened her eyes hours later. She felt sticky all over, which was likely due to Lydia attempting to cover her with her entire body.

Allison huffed. Lydia’s hair was tickling her nose.

“Want some help with that?”

She peeked over Lydia’s shoulder; Malia was standing by her door wrapped in a towel, hair wet and dripping down their neck.

“Yes please,” Allison grunted, not even phased by Malia’s nudity. It was getting really hot under Lydia.

Malia padded over to Allison’s side and raised Lydia’s body enough for Allison to escape. They set her down gently as Allison got up, sighing in relief.

“Thanks,” she whispered, following Malia to the living room. They walked over to the couch they had been sleeping on and dropped the towel, getting into their underwear and a pair jean shorts and a tank top.

“Did you go back to your apartment?” Allison asked, dropping down into the loveseat heavily. Malia shook their head.

“Erica brought us some stuff,” Malia explained. “Kira is at Scott and Isaac’s.”

“I should probably stay here until Lydia gets up,” Allison said. “I can’t leave her alone in an empty apartment. Especially after last night.”

Malia looked amused. “We can take care of ourselves. And each other. You don’t have to worry.”

“I still will, though,” Allison said, bringing her knees to her chest. Malia snorted and made to leave.

“Hey, Malia?” Allison called out, stopping Malia at the doorway. “Will you show me how to fight?”

Malia frowned. “You told Lydia you knew.”

“I do, in theory. But I’ve never been in a fight before; especially not with…you know.”

They blinked at her for a second, then nodded.

“Thanks,” Allison said.

“No problem,” Malia responded and got out of the apartment, closing the door behind them.

* * *

It was almost noon when Lydia emerged from Allison’s room, hair messy and make up smudged around their eyes. The pajama shorts Allison had given her were slightly longer on her than they were on Allison, and the t-shirt Allison had grabbed last night in her rush to dress Lydia before she passed out completely was even bigger on her than it was on Allison. She grinned.

Lydia glared. She threw herself down on a chair at the small kitchen table and groaned a little. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re adorable,” Allison cooed, setting down a cup of coffee in front of Lydia. She accepted it wordlessly.

“I feel like death,” Lydia complained, taking a sip of coffee and putting the cup down again. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly.

Allison grinned cheekily. “If I were Stiles, I would be making a great banshee joke right now.”

Lydia’s eyes narrowed.

“But since I’m not,” Allison continued, sitting down, too, “I won’t.”

“It’s for the best,” Lydia quipped, picking up the cup and taking a long sip.

“Do you remember last night?”

Lydia thought for a moment, staring blankly at the probably too-bright world outside. Then she nodded gravely.

“You guys seemed to...know what to do,” Allison said hesitantly. Lydia snorted and reached up to her neck to rub the scar there.

“We’ve had plenty of practice,” she said bitterly. She looked only slightly more awake now, but her eyes were serious.

She glanced up; she must have noticed something on Allison’s face. She put the cup down and grabbed her hand.

“No need to worry,” she said. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.”

“That’s what Scott and Malia said,” she murmured, more for her benefit than Lydia’s.

Lydia nodded, then sighed. “Scott is our Alpha; a True Alpha, and a good kid at that. He’s more powerful than he knows, but too kind to use it for anything other than good. He can handle this. Trust me. Trust _us._ ”

“I do,” Allison said truthfully. “I do.”

“Good,” Lydia said and got up. “Now I’m gonna go and try to bring this,” she drew a circle in front of her face with a finger “into some semblance of normality, and then we’re gonna go over to Scott’s house and figure out our next move. Okay?”

Allison nodded. Lydia smiled, bent over the table to kiss her on the cheek, and disappeared into the washroom.

* * *

 “Lydia! Love of my life! Fire in my loins!” Stiles cried as soon as Lydia and Allison stepped foot into Scott and Isaac’s apartment about thirty minutes later. Erica had forgotten to leave stuff for her to change into so she was still in Allison’s clothes but she had brushed her teeth and fixed her hair.

Both girls turned to look into the living room. Stiles and Scott were sitting on the couch immersed in a video game; Mario Kart from the sound of it. Isaac was sitting behind Scott, arms around his waist and legs thrown on either side of his hips, with Erica and Kira on either side of them. Malia was doing their best to lie all over Kira, although Kira did not seem to mind. Boyd and Liam were sitting on the other couch, alternating between booing and cheering at almost regular intervals.

Lydia rolled her eyes at Stiles, who hadn’t even looked up from his game. She sat beside Erica while Allison took the seat beside Liam.

“Never say the word “loins” to refer to me ever again, Stilinski,” Lydia demanded, flinging her legs on Erica’s lap. Stiles saluted her and crushed Scott on the screen.

“Damn, Scott, you’d think someone with your reflexes would like, use them,” Stiles taunted, stretching his arms as the game reloaded.

“Shut up,” Scott grumbled. He glared back at Isaac who looked suspiciously innocent. “I was distracted.”

Stiles snorted. “Isaac, dude….sometimes...I think I might love you.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Isaac said. Allison laughed. He smiled at her.

Stiles looked back and forth between Allison and Isaac for a moment, then groaned. “Gross,” he said, and put an arm out to stop Scott from starting the game.

“Nuh-uh, not you buddy. Let someone else lose spectacularly.”

“I’ll do it,” Allison offered, getting up and shooing Scott away. He looked at her dubiously but moved over. She sat down, pointedly ignoring how their thighs touched. He was very warm.

“Hell yes,” Stiles cheered and gave her the other console.

“Let’s make this more interesting,” Erica suggested, leaning on Stiles’ side to look at Allison. She was smirking so Allison was naturally, instantly suspicious.

“I’m all ears,” Stiles said. Boyd muttered “oh no”.

Erica rolled her eyes at Boyd. “Don’t worry, I’m gonna be nice! Okay so school is starting soon right? We need to do something as a pack before we’re too busy to _breathe_.”

“Like what?” Scott asked, leaning around Allison. He put his hand on Allison’s thigh to steady himself, and Allison was pretty sure she stopped breathing for a moment.

“Like a pack dinner date,” Erica suggested, grinning. Stiles seemed to mull it over.

“Winner gets to pick the restaurant, loser gets to buy us all dinner?” he asked finally.

“I’m in,” Allison said, flicking her hair back.

“You bet your sweet ass I’m in,” Stiles added, turning back to Allison.

“Shall we dance, partner?” he asked, grinning. Allison rolled her eyes, pressing the right button to choose her character.

“Are you always such a nerd?” she asked, smiling delightedly at his offended gasp.

“Always,” Liam and Boyd said in unison. They fist-bumped.

“You’re both just butthurt that I can wipe the floor with you at video games,” Stiles accused. They started to bicker, Liam looking more animated and more involved than Allison had ever seen him.

“Liam looks better,” she whispered to Scott. He looked at his Beta.

“He and Hayden are officially dating,” he said. He looked like he was having mixed emotions about that.

“And that’s not a good thing?” Allison asked.

Scott shook his head. “It’s not that. She’s a sort of...werewolf and I haven’t met her Alpha. It’s like they’re avoiding me.”

“Why would they do that?”

Scott shrugged. “I don’t know.” The bickering beside her was dying down. He leaned back slightly. “By the way,” he added, giving her a small smile, “you smell nice.”

Allison’s heart thumped. Stiles clapped his hands, making her jump slightly.

“Let’s get this party started,” he said, picking up the console again. She hadn’t even seen him put it down.

She took a deep breath, and sighed it out. “Let’s.”

* * *

An embarrassingly short (embarrassing for Stiles, that is) race later, Erica was singing _Queen_ ’s “We Are The Champions” loudly while Stiles attempted to bury himself in the couch. Allison giggled, leaning into Scott’s space. She liked how easily he put his arms around her, and decided to stay there.

“That was beautiful,” Isaac complimented, pretending to wipe tears of happiness away from his eyes. Stiles groaned from deep in the pillows.

“So, Miss Argent,” Erica said, kicking Stiles’ arm when he reached out to trip her on her way to sit beside Allison, “where are you taking us for dinner?”

Allison grinned, and threw her leg easily over Erica’s as she sat beside her. “Hm… How about some French cuisine? You guys haven’t lived until you’ve tried French food.”

"Doubt it," Boyd muttered. Allison stuck her tongue out at him.

“I’m not eating snails,” Stiles piped up, sitting up finally. Allison rolled her eyes.

“I’m not going to force-feed you.”

“I will,” Isaac said. “Get ready, Bilinski.”

“I hate you,” Stiles declared.

“Excellent,” Isaac responded. Scott sent him a disappointed look, then leveled the same one at Stiles.

“Yes, I know, I know, I have to be nice from time to time because you love him blah blah blah,” Stiles said, rolling his eyes at Scott.

“I love you both, that’s the problem,” Scott explained. Isaac kissed him right under his ear.

“I’ll try my best to be...nice,” he promised, his face twisting comically at the last word. Stiles snorted. Scott looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. “Yes, okay, me too.”

“Good,” Scott said, leaning back into Isaac. “Good.”

* * *

“Alright,” Lydia said later when all of the girls (plus Malia) were gathered in Allison’s room so Allison (the star of the night, as they called her) could get ready for dinner.

“Alright what?” Allison asked, focused on putting mascara on without taking her own eye out.

“What’s up with you and Scott?”

Allison went still for a moment, then switched eyes. “What do you mean?”

She saw Lydia roll her eyes through the mirror. “You know exactly what I mean, Allison.”

Allison said nothing. Lydia leaned back into Allison’s pillows, huffing.

“You can tell us, you know,” Kira reassured. “We won’t say anything.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Allison said truthfully, putting the mascara wand down and turning to them. Malia was lying with their head on Kira’s lap, but they had turned their body sideways to look at her.

“Then what is it?” Malia asked, eyebrows drawing together. Erica looked at her sympathetically, then leaned forward to grab her arm and guide her on to her lap.

“Come on, sweetheart,” Erica said, rubbing her back comfortingly. “We’re your friends. You can tell us anything.”

Allison took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s not just Scott,” she whispered.

They all fell silent as they figured out the meaning behind Allison’s words. Lydia gasped.

Allison let her head fall on Erica’s shoulder, ashamed. Erica held her more tightly.

“So? What’s the problem?” Malia asked, eyebrows still drawn together. Kira looked down at them incredulously.

“Malia...Scott and Isaac are dating,” Kira said slowly. Malia rolled their eyes.

“So? They can all date each other. They like her back anyway, I see no issue.”

“What?” Allison asked, echoed by all of the girls. They all looked surprised at Malia’s comment. Malia rolled their eyes and raised themselves up on their elbow.

“You don’t smell it?” Malia asked. “It started later with Isaac but he’s slowly getting to Scott’s level.”

“Smell...what?” Allison asked hesitantly. Her heart was starting to beat faster, annoyingly and embarrassingly enough.

“Their attraction....to you?” Malia answered, looking incredulous at the blank look on everybody’s faces.

“Malia has the best nose out of everyone in the pack,” Erica told Allison. “Probably because they were born a werecoyote.”

Allison nodded in understanding. “They both...they both like me?”

Malia rolled their eyes. “Yes, but they won’t admit it to each other, or you. They go all awkward when they’re both around you at the same time.”

Lydia frowned, looking frustrated with herself. “I’ve never noticed.”

Malia tapped their nose as an explanation.  Allison sighed.

“So…,” she started hesitantly “what do I do?”

Lydia pursed her lips. “I think...you should give them some time to...process their feelings. They do have a lot to talk about first. With you too, obviously, but they need to have a _serious_ talk.”

“Well yes, but,” Erica said, starting to smirk “it won’t hurt if we push them to the right direction a bit.”

Lydia matched Erica’s expression easily. Allison looked between them with trepidation.

Oh no.

* * *

They piled up in two cars, Stiles’ ancient jeep and Lydia’s tuition-worthy one, bodies close together despite the heat and humidity of the night. Alison sat in the back of Stiles’ jeep, wedged beside Scott, Isaac on his other side and Liam in the front. She did not lower her skirt from where it had ridden up. Scott’s hand sat inches away on his own thigh.

“I can’t believe this thing actually works,” Allison said in awe on their way to the restaurant. It looked like it would not withstand the smallest crash.

“Hey! Don’t insult my child,” Stiles said, glaring at her through the mirror.

“Oh please, it’s nothing you’ve never heard before,” Isaac accused.

“How many times has this garbage can stopped in the middle of the desert?” Liam asked, cringing towards the door as Stiles lashed out with his hand.

“Hey, hey, hey, I’m paying for your dinner you can’t gang up on me,” Stiles pointed out, sounding petulant.

Allison grinned behind her hand. Scott looked at her with raised eyebrows, amused.

“What?,” she mouthed.

“Nothing,” he mouthed back, still smiling. Allison kinda wanted to hold his hand, the one that wasn’t holding Isaac’s.

Hopefully, it would happen.

And soon.

* * *

They had been sitting at the restaurant, (a little French cuisine establishment close to downtown that Allison had been in so many times with her family that she could almost be considered a regular) for all of thirty minutes, and Allison was starting to wonder how they hadn’t gotten kicked out already. Stiles wasn’t being exactly quiet with his complaints about the names of the dishes, and Malia had nearly gotten in a fight with one of the patrons because he had looked at their group “wrong” as they had put it.

“Who came up with these words? Were they masochists? Did they love to suffer?,” Stiles whined for what seemed like the 100th time, looking down at the menu with a forlorn expression on his face.

Allison sighed. She was starting to get annoyed. After all, she _was_ French. “How about I order for you?”

Stiles looked at her worriedly. “Promise me you won’t order snails?”

“Don’t do it,” Isaac urged. “Don’t promise him anything.”

“I’m going to stab you in the…how do you say “eye” in French?” Stiles asked Allison, scowling at Isaac.

“ _L’oeil_.”

Stiles blinked at her. “That,” he said, turning back to Isaac. “I’m going to stab you in the...thing with a fork.”  Isaac rolled his eyes.

“ _Va te faire foutre_ , motherfucker,” he replied. Lydia choked on her ice tea. The waitress standing by a nearby table sent their group a dirty look.

Allison mouthed “sorry” at her, and turned to slap Isaac lightly on the thigh. “Don’t swear in French in a French restaurant,” she hissed.

“Sorry,” he muttered, although of course he didn’t look sorry at all. Stiles scowled.

“What did he say?,” he demanded. Scott, sitting beside Isaac, reached across the table to pat his hand.

“Drop it, dude. We’re here to celebrate how hard Allison wrecked you at your own game.”

Stiles’ eyes narrowed. “Was that a pun?”

Scott grinned. “Let’s order, yeah?”

Allison raised her hand to flag down a waiter gratefully. As a dark-haired guy no older than them headed towards their table, she leaned over to whisper in Isaac’s ear.

“Where did you learn that?”

Isaac grinned but shrugged. “The internet, I guess. I just like learning swear words in other languages.”

Allison leaned back, shaking her head with a smile on her face. “Unbelievable.”

He just grinned cheekily but then tensed as Malia glared at the waiter that had arrived at the table.

“Ready to order?,” he asked politely.

“Where’s the other guy?,” Malia asked rudely, still glaring. The guy blinked at her, looking cowed.

“Uh, he had a family emergency and had to go. I’ll be your server for the rest of the night. I’m Josh.”

Malia opened their mouth to say something else but Lydia beat them to the punch, leaning forward to subtly shield Malia from Josh.

Or rather, Josh from Malia.

“Okay, I’ll have…”

* * *

 Dinner was tenser than Allison was used to with the pack. Malia was still visibly frustrated and as a result, all the weres around the table remained on guard. Scott looked like he was ready to jump across the table to prevent Malia from doing...something.

An hour passed. They ate the food with minimum complaints (Stiles’ snide remarks fell flat) and Allison decided to flag Josh down again, just to end this tension among them.

“Ready for dessert?,” Josh asked. He wasn’t sweating but he looked like he was on the verge of it. Kira looked up from Malia suddenly, eyes narrowing.

God, not another one.

“Just the check, please,” Allison said hurriedly. Josh nodded and walked away.

“Go get the cars, Stiles and I will take care of it,” Allison urged the group.

“Hey, I’m supposed to pay,” Stiles reminded her.

“This is my turf,” Allison said, smiling a bit. “It’s okay. Go,” she urged the others, widening her eyes pointedly towards Malia and Kira’s direction. The others got the point the picked their coats up, practically dragging Malia and Kira out.

“Wanna tell me what’s got them like this?,” Allison whispered from the corner of her mouth to Stiles. He shrugged, but he still looked uneasy.

“Don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s gotta do something with…,” he trailed off, nodding towards the direction Josh had gone to. At that moment, he emerged from the hallway leading to the cash register.

“It’s been taken cared of,” Josh informed them. Allison and Stiles glanced at each other.

“What do you mean?,” Stiles asked.

“Someone has already paid for your dinner,” Josh clarified, looking at Stiles like he was being purposefully obtuse. Stiles’ eyes narrowed.

“By whom?,” Allison asked before Stiles could put his foot in his mouth.

“I have been ordered not to tell, sorry.”

It was Allison’s eyes’ turn to narrow. She and Stiles exchanged a glance again and she shrugged, putting her coat on.

“Fine, tell them we said thanks,” she said, and had to grab Stiles’ hand to get him to leave.

The other were already in the cars, waiting in the front. Stiles and Allison got in Stiles’ jeep wordlessly, Allison settling right up beside Isaac this time.

“I didn’t even realize you got my keys,” Stiles grumbled, glancing back through the mirror. Scott grinned.

“I’m slick like that,” he said. Isaac and Stiles scoffed in unison.

“As if, buddy,” Stiles teased, twisting to back out from the spot. Scott kicked his seat childishly.

“Hey! Don’t kick the driver,” Stiles said petulantly.

Allison sighed, leaning her head on Isaac’s shoulder. “So, are we not gonna talk about the elephant in the room?”

“This jeep was not made to hold elephants,” Stiles said, trying for a joke.

“Come on guys, I don’t have enhanced senses but even I could tell something was off about that Josh guy. Why did Malia and Kira act like that?”

“Malia said he smelled weird,” Scott said, looking troubled. “And Kira said she felt electricity coming off him.”

“Ele-okay, that IS weird,” Stiles said. Allison’s eyebrows pulled together.

“But he can’t be a kitsune...so what is he?”

“That’s what’s bothering us,” Scott said. He looked older in the semi-dark of the jeep, eyes tired.

“We’ll figure it out,” Isaac encouraged, squeezing Scott’s hand. “We always do.”

“Yeah,” Scott sighed, leaning his own head against Isaac’s other shoulder. ‘We always do.”

Isaac kissed his forehead tenderly and sighed, then glanced down at Allison. She couldn’t figure out his expression.

He looked down at their hands, making her glance down, too. Hesitantly, he reached out with his hand and spread his fingers as an offering. She threaded her fingers through his and sighed contentedly, nuzzling deeper in the crook of his neck.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She walked to her apartment and unlocked it, feeling almost like a stranger in her own home. It felt like ages had passed since the last time she had been in here and alone. She closed the door behind her and set the keys down on the kitchen table, turning to get the lights.
> 
> Two bright green eyes shining out from the dark of her living room stopped her in her tracks. None of the pack had green eyes in their other form.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN
> 
> guess who's back. it is i, the world's worst fic updater ever
> 
> IM SO SO SORRY for taking so long but my life is an actual mess but well, here i am now,
> 
> Things Are Finally Happening but no scott/isaac/allison just yet. im sorry feelings are awful
> 
> anyway enjoy xoxo

“Malia please calm down and _sit_ ,” Lydia pleaded, her eyes following Malia as they paced beside Scott, who was also pacing. 

Allison sighed. They had been trying to talk things out at Scott’s apartment for hours now (she hadn’t even gone to change), trying to figure out a plan and come up with an explanation for Josh and who the person that had payed their dinner could possibly be.

“I just don’t understand why we didn’t confront him. I don’t like this,” Malia bit through their teeth, but sat down on the couch beside Kira anyway.

“Well whatever this is….it’s gonna come to the surface soon anyway,” Scott said. Stiles looked up at him quizzically.

“What do you mean?”

Scott paused his pacing to look at him. “I feel like they’ve been...circling us for some time, leaving clues here and there. Hayden suddenly getting closer to Liam, that incident the other night when you were walking home, now Josh, the whole paid dinner thing-”

“Okay hold on, what does Hayden have to do with this?,” Liam asked, getting up from the couch alarmingly fast. Lydia cast a wary glance from the opposite couch. Erica tensed as if ready to leap.

Scott's expression didn’t change, but he pushed his shoulders back, posture changing and suddenly, he didn’t look like a tired college kid; he looked like someone that she would not want to cross.

Like someone her dad would be willing to cooperate with, despite misgivings and his...particular upbringing.

She sighed again.

“Liam,” Scott started carefully, “according to Kira, Josh has electricity, so you could say he’s sort of a kitsune…”

“So?,” Liam gritted out.

“Like Hayden is sort of a werewolf, werejaguar, whatever,” Scott finished. Liam’s shoulders did not relax.

“So what? You think she has something to do with...what, Lydia and the others getting stalked?”

“No, but she’s definitely part of all of this.”

Liam scoffed. “You have to be kidding me! You haven’t liked her from the start!”

“She hasn’t given me a reason to like her OR hate her,” Scott countered, starting to scowl. “I haven’t met her, Liam. Something always happens and I don’t get to meet HER or her Alpha. Don’t you think that’s a little suspicious?”

Liam opened his mouth to retort, fists clenching, but Allison beat him to it, getting up and getting between them.

“That’s enough,” she said forcefully. Scott looked at her, surprised. She ignored the look on his face and forged on. “Hayden, whatever she is, and whatever her motives are, isn’t really the problem here. We gotta find the _root_ of all of this.”

“Which is?,” Boyd asked.

“The Alpha?,” Erica offered.

“I think it’s whoever paid for our dinner. That was obviously some kind of show, right? Like, “I’m here, I’m in your lives, and you can’t do anything about it”. Whoever that is, they’re the root of it all.”

“Okay, but what do they want?,” Stiles asked. He had been pulling his hands through his hair so much, it looked like a tornado had passed through it.

“Well, to scare us, it looks like,” Allison said. She started pacing, too, deep in thought. “This all stinks of intimidation.”

“So what, just another pack trying to establish territory or something?,” Kira asked. She was caressing Malia’s back, trying to soothe them.

“Doesn’t make sense. Remember the Alpha pack?,” Scott asked. “The Alpha would have faced me already. Werewolves don’t normally go for the indirect approach.”

“Maybe they’ve heard of the all-powerful Alpha of Beacon Hills and are too scared to make a move right now,” Stiles suggested hopefully. Scott shook his head, but a small smile was pulling at the corners of his lips.

“Then they would have already lost,” Allison reasoned. Scott nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, this is not a territory struggle.”

“Then what is it?,” Isaac asked.

“Guess we’re going to have to wait and see,” Scott said, and looked distinctly unhappy about it.

* * *

 “I’m worried about Liam,” Scott said later when they met up again after they had all gone home to change. Liam had not come back.

“Yeah, no shit, buddy,” Stiles said. His already nervous movements looked even more nervous now, his hands doing faster gestures. He kept pulling his hand through his hair like all the answers were somewhere up there.

“How did that person know we would be there?,” Lydia asked. They all turned to her questioningly.

“I mean, they had to know we’d be there to pay for us right? And the fact that our first server had a sudden obligation outside the restaurant? Something doesn't feel right,” she explained. She looked very young without her makeup and her usual getup of heels and a skirt on.

“We already knew someone is watching us but this...someone told them,” Erica said. She looked at Scott.

Scott looked back at her, an incredulous expression on his face. “Wait, you think Liam told? He’s no spy.”

“He’s not. We know he’s not...but we know nothing about Hayden,” Allison said. Understanding dawned on Scott’s face.

He sighed, pushing his hair back. “Fuck,” he swore lowly.

“Lydia?,” Malia asked. Allison turned to look at them.

Lydia was staring off in the distance, her face expressionless. Allison doubted she was even blinking. The others were looking at her with expressions ranging from confusion to worry and fear.

She got up slowly and walked to the door, not glancing at anyone around her. Scott put a hand out to stop the others from getting up. “Boyd, come follow her with me,” he said, and turned to follow Lydia out. Boyd got up, kissed Erica on the forehead and followed.

A moment of silence passed after the door had shut behind them. Allison looked around the group. Nobody was meeting her eyes.

“So...anyone wanna tell me what just happened?”

Isaac and Stiles exchanged a look, but it was Malia who spoke up.

“She gets like that before she finds a body.”

“A bo-oh,” Allison said, her mouth falling open a little. “You never told me she had that power.”

“It’s not her favorite thing to talk about,” Stiles said. “The fact that she can sense it means-”

“It’s somehow connected to...all of this,” Isaac finished. He was slumping on the couch but he still managed to look rigid. She sat down beside him and put her hand on his knee comfortingly.

“So what are we going to do?,” Allison asked, biting her lip. Erica sat back on the couch, putting her legs on Malia and Kira’s laps.

“We’re going to wait,” she said. No one else seemed to disagree with that.

* * *

Midnight found them all huddled around an operating table in the back of a vet’s office, the harsh light overhead shining down on Josh’s corpse, dark red blood masking most of the damage done to his gut.

Allison and the rest of the pack had met Lydia, Scott, Boyd, and the dead body here, in a not-so-popular downtown neighbourhood. The vet, a stern-looking man in his 40s that had introduced himself as “Dr. Allen, Deaton’s colleague”, had taken one look at the pack as they’d come in and nodded towards the back silently.

Allison hadn’t been ready to look at Josh, or Lydia, who still looked worryingly pale and tense. She was currently huddled in one of Isaac’s sweaters, who had brought it without being asked, and was standing a little way behind the rest of them, Allison’s arms around her.

“And you’ve never seen anything like him?,” Scott was asking Dr. Allen, arms crossed in front of him. His jaw was clenched, his hands still red from the blood. They had found Josh barely alive, but at the same time they had been too late.

“No,” Dr. Allen said, in the process of cleaning the blood around the wound. “I am, however, not as experienced as Deaton,” he admitted. “I believe you should call him...and a couple of hunters.”

Allison glanced at Scott quickly. He didn’t look happy with the idea.

“Hunters don’t always improve a situation.”

“They rarely do,” Stiles murmured. He sent an apologetic look at Allison, who waved it off.

“That may be true,” Dr. Allen said, “but none of us have any experience with this. Wouldn’t it be wise to call someone that does?” He turned to look at Allison.

“You said you’re an Argent, yes?”

She nodded, mouth tight.

“Maybe it would be wise to call your father,” the doctor said. Allison opened her mouth to...she didn’t know what exactly. He wasn’t wrong necessarily, but the very thought of calling her dad, especially for something like this, made her uneasy.

“We’ll decide that, thank you,” Scott said, saving her. She sent him a grateful look that he didn’t acknowledge.

Dr. Allen inclined his head. “As you wish,” he said. Stiles raised his eyebrows. Erica pretended to cough to cover up her laugh.

“I will examine the body and contact Deaton, and if I find anything of import, I have your number,” he told Scott. Scott nodded and shook his hand, thanking him. They all filed out, Allison guiding Lydia gently.

“Let’s all have a massive sleepover tonight,” Stiles suggested before they stepped into their cars.

“Sounds like a good idea. Some people can sleep on the floor of our room and some in the living room,” Scott said.

“As you wish,” Stiles said, lowering his voice and inclining his head like Dr. Allen. Scott rolled his eyes, shoved him away, and got in the back of his jeep. Stiles laughed.

“Wanna come sit in the front with me?,” he asked, turning to Lydia. Lydia nodded, trying to stand straighter. Allison rubbed her back and released her, getting in the back after Isaac. She shut the door and they sped off, back to safety.

* * *

 Allison spoke up when they were back in Scott’s apartment. “I don’t- I’m not...I’m not particularly fond of the idea of calling my dad,” she started, crossing her arms self-consciously as they all turned to look at her, “but if we need him, I will.”

Scott rubbed a hand down his face and sighed. “I’m not incredibly fond of the idea either, but we’ll probably need him. And Allison,” he said, finally meeting her eyes “you will definitely need him.”

She scowled, not having expected that last part. “Why?”

“Well, we, uh, never really talked about it, but you’re...pack.”

Her heart warmed at that but she didn’t let her scowl disappear. “So…?”

“I will protect you with everything I have in me,” Scott promised fiercely, “but I know you won’t want to be defenseless if something happens. And I could tell you didn’t like sitting here while Boyd and I were out.”

Erica put an arm around her shoulders, and rolled her eyes. “No one of us did, sugar,” she said.

Scott gave her a half-smile, then turned back to Allison.. “Sorry, but my point still stands- you’re going to need his help. Let me tell you, if you had asked me a few years ago, I would have said “hell no”. But I’ve been in this world for years now, and I know better than to scoff at hunter training.”

Allison took a deep breath and exhaled it through her nose. “Fine,” she said, sounding as bitter as she felt. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”

Scott smiled at her, and suddenly she didn’t feel so bitter. “Thank you. Now, bed,” he said to the group at large, clapping his hands.

“Aye, aye, Cap’n,” Stiles said, saluting him, and going to the hallway closet to grab blankets. Allison went to follow him, but Lydia stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Can you sleep beside me?,” she asked. Her voice was hoarse from disuse. Allison nodded.

“Of course,” she said. Lydia smiled at her.

“I’m sleeping in Scott and Isaac’s room tonight,” she said, looking suspiciously innocent. Allison narrowed her eyes but said nothing, aware of the keen ears around her.

“Alright,” she said simply, and followed her to their room, where they were already setting up blankets for them. They were both in their underwear and t-shirts, Scott wearing a faded black Metallica shirt and Isaac a plain blue.

Scott smiled at them as he straightened up. “All ready.”

Allison nodded and turned to Lydia. “I’m going to go grab my stuff and I’ll be back.” Lydia nodded.

She walked to her apartment and unlocked it, feeling almost like a stranger in her own home. It felt like ages had passed since the last time she had been in here and alone. She closed the door behind her and set the keys down on the kitchen table, turning to get the lights.

Two bright green eyes shining out from the dark of her living room stopped her in her tracks. None of the pack had green eyes in their other form.

Her heart sped up; she lurched forward to turn on the lights and froze as she looked at the person sitting on her couch.

It was Aunt Kate, looking as beautiful and cool as she had always looked, ever since Allison remembered. Her hair was shorter now, and a little blonder, but the same troublemaker smile was still on her face. 

Allison didn't approach her. Her heart hadn't settled down yet. 

“Aunt Kate?” she asked. “You-you’re alive.”

“Wow,” her aunt said. “I haven’t seen you since you were a scrawny little high school freshman, and your first words are “You’re alive”.” She clicked her tongue in disappointment. Allison laughed awkwardly.

“I-I’m just shocked. I- Dad didn’t know if you-”

“He still doesn’t,” Kate said, shrugging. There was something about her smile that didn’t make Allison feel as comfortable as it used to.

“But...what about the...the eyes?”

“Well, I’m not human anymore,” Kate explained; her expression turned angry and bitter. “You know how I…died,” she did air-quotes at “died”, “yes?”

Allison nodded. Scott had told her. “Peter Hale tore your throat out with his claws.”

Kate’s eyes flashed at that. “Yes, but, no surprise there, he didn’t do it right. My body started healing, Allison. Started...transforming,” she explained with distaste, looking away from her. Allison moved forward hesitantly but did not fully enter the living room.

“What happened?”

“A Mexican hunter family, the Calaveras, came up to check on me. Their leader, Araya, wanted to make sure that I was actually dead.”

“But you weren’t,” Allison said.

“I wasn’t,” Kate agreed. “So she took me back down to Mexico with no one noticing, and shut me in a steel-enforced room with a gun.”

“A gun?”

Kate looked back at her and snorted. “God, I forgot. My brother has told you absolutely nothing, huh?"

Allison stayed silent. Kate smirked unpleasantly.

“Yes, a gun. Our Code says a hunter, or any other member of the family that has been bitten, or in my case, scratched by a werewolf, and starts to transform, has to commit suicide."

Allison frowned. “Our Code sounds awful.”

Kate laughed with derision. “It is.”

Her reply made Allison suddenly remember that this woman had burned down an entire family. She swallowed thickly.

“Anyway, obviously I didn’t kill myself,” Kate continued, oblivious to Allison’s sudden distress “I faked it, and ran into the desert. I stayed there, in hiding, for years before I came back up here again. I went to Beacon Hills but that monster,” she said, her lips curling “was already gone.”

Allison wondered if she was going to address the fact that Peter killed her because she killed his entire family. She opened her mouth hesitantly, wanting to ask something, anything that would help her remotely understand her Aunt. How could someone that was her closest friend, now be a stranger?

A knock on the door interrupted her. They both turned to look to the direction of the door. “Allison?”

It was Lydia.

“Just a sec,” she called, turning to look back at her Aunt, but she was already gone, the window wide open. She hurried to look down into the street, but it was empty. She closed the window and rushed into her room to grab her toiletry bag and her pajamas.

She rushed back to the door and opened it. Lydia was standing on the either side, looking very tired and small. Her hair was braided down her back, and her pajamas were a silk set of a tank top and shorts that looked pretty expensive.

“What took you so long?,” she asked, stepping away as Allison shut the door and locked it after surreptitiously looking around and turning off the lights.

“I forgot I left some dishes out in the sink,” she lied, wrinkling her nose to make it more convincing. “Had to take care of that; sorry.”

Lydia frowned at her a bit, not looking very convinced, but she dropped it, turning around to get in Scott’s apartment. Everyone had already lied down in the living room but no one looked asleep yet. They all glanced up as Allison and Lydia entered.

“Goodnight, darlings,” Erica said from the couch. Allison waved at her and wished goodnight to everyone, going in the bathroom to change and brush her teeth.

She glanced in the mirror as she did. She looked a bit pale and stressed out, faint dark circles under her eyes. She sighed.

This was just the beginning.

She spat out her toothpaste, washed it off and wiped her face, gathering her stuff before exiting the bathroom. She opened the door to Scott and Isaac’s room quietly. Lydia was sitting at the edge of their bed. They both sat up slightly as she entered. Although it wasn’t as hot as it had been a few weeks ago, they hadn’t gone under the covers.

“You alright?,” Isaac asked. She nodded.

“Yes. Sorry I took so long.”

“It’s fine,” Scott said, smiling gently. Lydia got up from the bed but Scott beckoned her down. She rolled her eyes and bent so he could kiss her forehead, and Isaac her cheek. She got in their makeshift bed with a sigh.

Allison set her stuff down by the foot of the bed and went to follow her, but Scott beckoned her with a grin, too.

She pointed at herself questioningly and smiled a little to cover up the fact that she was starting to blush. She bent down to them. Scott kissed her forehead gently, lingering for only a second, and Isaac kissed both of her cheeks just as gently, then smiled at her.

“Goodnight, Allison,” Scott said. Allison turned off the light then settled beside Lydia, under the covers.

“Goodnight,” she whispered. She opened her arms and Lydia cuddled into her side easily, a soft line of heat by her side. She yawned quietly and sighed, grateful for the sleep she could already feel claiming her.

If today had been any indication, she was going to need all the rest she could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please tell me what you thought of this chapter!! (and leave kudos if u like ;) )
> 
> P.S. dont ask me why i named the doctor "Dr.Allen" it was the first name i thought of. im pretty sure i was thinking of barry allen at the time. anyway bye thanks for reading xoxo gossip girl


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate smirked. “Always so smart. Well, I’m here to tell you why I got myself allies. I have a plan, Allison. I will finally get my revenge on Peter,” she snarled his name like it angered her to even say it out loud “for doing this to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a new chapter? like 3 months after the last update? groundbreaking
> 
> I AM SO SO SORRY my life is a mess i moved back to my homecountry and everything is lit but [33 screaming frogs] at the same time and i just *inhales*
> 
> at least i know where the story is going now! yay!
> 
> enjoy my gaybies (gay babies)

“Always protect your face!,” Malia barked before swiping a clawed hand across where Allison’s face was a second ago. She grunted. The claws had grazed her arms.

Malia was privately training Allison in an empty classroom at the gym both them and Kira worked at. They had been at it since nearly 9 am, on Allison’s insistence. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore.

And if what she sensed proved to be right, she was going to need all the training she could get.

“Yo,” a familiar voice said from the door. Malia and Allison turned.

It was Boyd and Erica, looking at Allison swimming in her own sweat with identical amused expressions on their faces. Allison scowled at them and stuck her tongue out.

Malia scowled at being interrupted. They had taken the task of training Allison seriously. “What?”

“Scott said to cut you guys off before you kill her,” Erica said, grinning. Allison crossed her arms then grimaced at her own sweaty limbs.

“I am doing fine,” she said petulantly.

“She is,” Malia agreed.

“You’ve literally been at it since like, 9 am. Do you even know what time it is?,” Erica asked, eyebrows raised.

“11? 12?,” Allison guessed. Boyd snorted.

“It’s 4. Aren’t you tired? Hungry?,” he asked. Allison blinked in surprise.

“It can’t be 4, I-” she was cut off by her stomach growling loudly. Erica tilted her head with a smug grin.

“You were saying?”

Allison huffed and went to get her bag to change. “Whatever. Let me change.” She pushed past Erica pointedly and marched to the changing rooms, dignity partly intact. Erica’s laughter followed her down the hallway.

* * *

 Half an hour later, she was already walking home, Chinese take out tucked in her sports bag, despite the gradually increasing stiffness in her limbs. The weird looks she kept getting for the bruises on her cheekbones and legs and the scratches on her arms made her feel weirdly proud, so she was glad she hadn’t grabbed a bus.

She looked up at her building reflexively and stopped walking. Something had moved at her window.

Or someone.

She walked into the building and pressed the button for the elevator, heart starting to pound.

No one was home. Malia and Kira were both at the gym, Malia waiting for Kira to finish her shift. Lydia was at school, part of some research program. Boyd and Erica had gone home long before Allison, to have dinner or fuck, who knew. Scott and Isaac were both at work. Stiles and Liam were helping Danny with some computer-related thing. Well, Stiles was helping. Liam had only gone because Hayden was probably not around.

She stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. She rummaged through her bag for her keys, wishing she had some weapon with her. Maybe it _was_ time to call her dad.

Her hand stilled as it touched a photograph she had definitely not put in her bag. A cute little girl with dark skin and dark eyes was playing at the sandbox in a playground. Her hair was in two little poofs on her head. She was looking at the camera very seriously.

She turned to the back of the photo for some kind of explanation. The handwriting was vaguely familiar.

“ _Allison_ ,” it read “ _I knew you didn’t know how to ask, and I 'm not a man of many words, so here I am. That’s me, 5 years old. Love, Boyd._ ”

She blinked and put the photo back as she stepped out of the elevator. So that’s what Malia had meant when they’d said Boyd was straight but cool.

She came to a slow stop in front of her door, and forced herself to slow her heartbeat like Malia had shown her when they taught her how to lie convincingly to powerful ears. Then she unlocked it and stepped inside cautiously, closing the door with her foot and turning on the lights in one swift movement.

Her aunt was sitting at her couch again, but this time she wasn’t alone.

“Allison,” her aunt greeted, delighted. She got up and hugged her before Allison could really react, and threw an arm around her shoulders. “Meet my...allies. Tracy, Theo, Hayden and Corey.”

Her eyes fell on the girl her aunt had introduced as Hayden. She looked to be around Liam’s age, with dark hair and intelligent dark eyes.

Oh, Liam.

She nodded at all of them. They all looked young, Theo probably the oldest, around her age.

“You have a pack, now? I always thought you liked working alone.”

Her aunt snorted and went to sit back on the couch. “This is not my pack. I’m not a werewolf. Theo’s pack and I just have very...common goals.”

She raised her eyebrows and put her bag down slowly. She sat on the armchair, her eyes never leaving them.

“Are you a werewolf?,” she asked Theo. He had a sly face and an expression on his face she didn’t trust.

“You could say that,” he said, smirking.

“They’re all Chimeras,” her aunt explained “they became supernatural creatures because of a few...DNA changes. I don’t care about the medical stuff,” she said, waving her hand around dismissively. “Tracy here is a kanima Chimera, Hayden is like Theo, and Corey here,” she grabbed him by the chin and smiled. It would have looked affectionate if anyone but her aunt was doing it “is special. Show her, sweetheart.”

Corey looked nervously at her. He wasn’t as sure of himself as the others, and he looked younger, too. He swallowed and closed his eyes, and then…

He faded into the cushions.

“What the-,” she started. He became visible again, blushing.

“I know,” her aunt said, grinning. There was something borderline feral about it that set Allison on edge.

“The others will be home soon,” she warned. “Why are you here?”

Kate smirked. “Always so smart. Well, I’m here to tell you why I got myself allies. I have a plan, Allison. I will finally get my revenge on Peter,” she snarled his name like it angered her to even say it out loud “for doing this to me.”

She had a feeling that reminding her that Peter had killed her for killing his family wouldn’t be the best thing to do so she chose a different path. “How?”

“Well, I know Peter on some level. And I know he’s always hungry for power. That’s why he tried to make a pack after all, but he failed. And he’s still looking for power. I know he is. So, I’m gonna lead him here, make him think I’m about to steal the only source of power he has left. Scott McCall.”

Her stomach dropped. She forced her heartbeat to stay slow and her facial expression to remain neutral. She even managed to raise an eyebrow. “Scott?”

“He’s the first True Alpha to exist on this side of the world in a century,” Kate explained. “Kid doesn’t fully understand it yet, but he’s a powerhouse."

“What are you going to do to him?”

“Oh, we have plans. I can’t tell you them. You have to look convincingly shocked and upset and I know you can’t lie,” here Allison nearly snorted “so...just wait and see,” Kate said. She winked.

“What do you want me to do?,” Allison asked, clenching her jaw determinedly. Kate’s eyes gleamed.

“So you’re gonna help me?”

“Of course. You’re family,” Allison said simply. Kate grinned.

“What about my brother?”

Oh, dad. “To hell with my father,” Allison said, channeling all of her real anger out. “He lied to me about so many things. He hid my destiny from me. _You_ are family.”

Kate got up to kiss her on the forehead. Allison felt vaguely sick. “That’s my niece,” she said. The others got up from the couch, too.

“I want you to do what you’re already doing. Pretend you like them,” Kate said, pointing her thumb to the direction of Scott’s apartment, “and make Scott McCall fall in love with you even more.” She walked to the door, Theo’s pack at her heels.

“Won’t they smell you?,” she asked, half hoping they would. Kate laughed unpleasantly.

“I have my ways of hiding,” she said, and then she was gone with a wink, which Theo copied. Allison shut the door and took a quiet, shuddering breath, then straightened up.

She had to tell them.

But first, she had a plan to devise, and a parent to call.

* * *

It was Kira and Malia who got back first, freshly showered after the gym. They sat on Allison’s couch, Malia half on top of Kira. Despite herself, Allison smiled at the picture they made.

“So, uh, I found this in my sports bag,” she said, pulling Boyd’s picture out of her back pocket. She handed it to the couple who smiled as they looked at it.

“It’s been a part of the pack’s life for so long now, we forget that not everyone knows,” Kira said. Allison nodded in understanding.

“I’ll try to talk to him about it, too,” she said. “I just didn’t know how to broach the subject, you know?”

Kira smiled. “Don’t worry about it. He won't mind.”

“Is something wrong?,” Malia asked, eyes intent on Allison. She didn’t bother forcing her heartbeat to slow down as it started speeding up. She met Malia’s eyes.

“No,” she said. Malia’s eyes narrowed. She looked out of her window reflexively, then took out her phone and sent both Malia and Kira a text.

Me: _We need to talk when everyone gets home._

Malia: _Why?_

Kira: _What’s wrong?_

Me: _Shit’s about to go down._

* * *

Inspired by her phone exchange with Malia and Kira, Allison decided to start a group chat when the entire pack got home. She barely registered crossing the hallway to Scott and Isaac’s apartment and greeting everyone, even though it had already been a couple of hours since her exchange with her aunt. Malia’s frequent glances were getting on her nerves.

She sat beside Stiles on the couch. Although Lydia was a genius and Allison herself wasn’t half-bad with technology, she considered him the most tech-savvy in the pack.

She showed him a note in her phone wordlessly. It read; “start a groupchat with the entire pack. No questions out loud. I’ll explain everything.”

He sent her a weird look but opened his phone to Messages anyway. He added everyone in the chat then named it “Allison Is Weird and Scary ™” and sent a brief “yo” to everyone.

Allison huffed in amusement but accepted the name. “Put a movie on,” she told him out loud with a significant look towards the TV.

“Yes ma’am,” he said, saluting her, and got up to get the remote. Scott and Isaac settled in beside her, looking at their phones and then up at her questioningly.

The rest of the pack settled down similarly, but they seemed to sense the weight of the situation as Allison continued to stay silent. Stiles ended up deciding on _Brooklyn 9 9_ on Netflix and turned it up loudly before sitting down beside Allison again.

Allison took a deep breath. She laughed along with Stiles and Erica at something that must have happened on the TV, and opened the chat.

Me: _My aunt is alive_

Me: _She and her allies have been behind everything_

Me: _She thinks im on her side_

Stiles: _full offense what the fuck_

Stiles: _peter cant even kill right. what an inconsiderate piece of shit_

Stiles: _no offense malia :* scott stop looking at me like that_

Scott: _what do u mean she thinks ur on her side. what are u supposed to be doing_

Me: _idrk. She just wants me to “pretend” i like u guys. For now at least_

Allison didn’t think telling them about the “make Scott fall in love with you” thing would be very smart right now. Scott looked at her tensely, then he and Isaac laughed together at the screen like clockwork. She wondered how they managed to make it look so real. If she tried to laugh she knew the sound would get stuck in her throat.

Erica: _who are her allies_

Allison glanced up at Liam.

Me: _they’re creatures called chimeras. Theres two werewolves one kanima and someone that literally camouflages himself to disappear. I think Josh was one of them. And Liam. Hayden is one of them. She was there_

A growl slipped from Liam. Scott silenced him with a swift look.

Me: _im sorry_

Me: _anyway she wants to use scott as bait for peter_

The shock was palpable throughout the room. Stiles stiffened beside her. In retrospect, maybe she shouldn’t have revealed that part this quickly.

“What do you-,” he started out loud then caught himself and texted instead.

Stiles: _what do you mean she wants to use him as bait what is she gonna do_

Me: _she wont tell me. Says i cant lie for shit and it’s better i look surprised so..anyway. I called my dad and hes coming down soon so...thats that_

Isaac sighed beside her.

No one was laughing anymore.

* * *

They finally agreed to act normal- or as normal as they could. Erica left for rehearsal around 8; apparently they had a new dancer tonight, and Allison needed to start getting ready soon, but at the moment she was forcing both Scott and Isaac to cuddle her to get some strength back in her limbs.

“I think Malia killed me this morning,” she said mournfully. Scott snorted softly. Malia, busy cuddling Kira on the opposite couch, scowled at her.

“You didn’t even wanna go when Boyd and Erica came to interrupt us,” they accused.

“I was young and naive,” Allison said. Isaac patted her leg. She sighed contentedly.

“You guys should all come tonight,” Allison said. “We might as well have some fun before...college starts.”

“You’re right,” Scott said, looking at Isaac for some reason. “We should come out tonight.”

Allison blinked at the weird emphasis, then shrugged (which felt weird lying down) and got up with a long groan. “I should get ready then.”

“I’m coming with you,” Lydia said. “Kira,Malia, come.”

They got up too without any arguing. Boyd got up after them.

“I think I’m gonna go get ready and go early, see if i can catch Erica before her shift starts,” he said.

Stiles snorted. “Don’t have sex in the bathroom again. I think Brett is gonna have a heart attack if he has to catch you one more time.”

Boyd rolled his eyes and followed them out the door to the sound of Liam and Stiles’ cackling.

Allison turned to him with a grin. “Do I even want to know?”

“I know you do,” Boyd said. “But I won’t tell you.”

Allison whined. “You’re no fun, Vernon Boyd.”

“I know,” he said. Malia, Erica and Kira went into her apartment and she went to follow them when she remembered something.

“Boyd wait!,” she said, then ran to her bedroom and back to hand him his picture. He took it from her hand slowly.

She smiled. “Thanks for sharing that with me.”

He gave her a rare, close-lipped smile and put his fist out. She bumped it, and walked back to her apartment with a wave to his back as he took the stairs running, tired of waiting for the elevator.

The girls (and Malia) were waiting for her in her room, Lydia already picking out her makeup for the night.

“Is it a special night tonight? I can never remember,” Allison said. Lydia threw her the dress she wanted her to wear (a silvery thing that Allison didn’t even remember seeing it in any of their closets).

She grabbed the underwear Lydia threw her, and was then immediately pushed into the washroom to change.

“Yes, it is a special night. Tonight is “Allison Is Gonna Get Laid” Night,” Lydia explained through the door. Allison stumbled in the middle of changing her underwear, then scowled at the door as she heard Kira laugh.

Underwear and bra on, she put on the dress halfway and got out to be zipped up, scowl in place. Lydia merely blinked at her, then zipped her up in one swift movement.

“Since when?,” Allison asked.

“Since a few minutes ago,” Lydia said. “I think they’re ready; they just need a little push.” Allison flopped down in the chair in front of her mirror with a sigh.

“Are you sure? Don’t you think I’m moving too fast?” Lydia rolled her eyes.

“No. We’re all grownups here. I’m sure they can handle you making a move.” She started with concealer for Allison’s dark circles and the bruise on her cheekbone. “Besides,” she added “if humanity waited for men to make every decision we’d all still be living in caves.”

Allison snorted. “That’s fair. But are you su-” Lydia put a finger on her mouth to shush her.

“No talking. I’m working.”

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror.

Get ready, she thought.

* * *

 The club was packed that night. Allison, having gone earlier to start her shift, hadn’t even seen the pack come in at all. She’d seen Lydia and Stiles around the dance floor, but none of the rest.

She practically collapsed in front of Danny, and handed him the tray. He laughed at her.

“Everyone is out to kill me today,” she whined, lifting her face off the counter. Lydia would kick her ass if she messed up her makeup.

Danny, in the middle of filling her tray with shots, sent her a pitying look, like he would have patted her on the head if he could. “Everyone has those days.”

She snorted. “Who would want to kill Danny Mahealani?” He grinned, then slid the tray towards her.

“Go get’em tiger,” he said, ignoring her withering look. She plunged in the sweaty crowd with a heavy sigh.

She gratefully took her break about forty-five minutes later, slamming her tray down on the counter with a grin. Danny rolled his eyes (she knew he did it fondly) and shooed her away. She blew him a kiss and grabbed Lydia- who had been waiting for her for at least fifteen minutes, as she was informed haughtily- by the hand to dance her heart out.

Two songs went by in a blur, Lydia’s body close to hers the only constant. It was at the beginning of the third song that she felt a strong body against her back. She turned her head. Scott was smiling at her. She turned her head back to Lydia as she felt her move away. The other girl winked and disappeared into the crowd, only to be replaced by Isaac, smiling a little more bashfully than Scott.

Throwing caution to the wind, she reached out with one arm to pull Isaac flush to her by his shoulder, and back with the other to pull Scott closer by his waist. Scott’s arm snaked around her waist. Her heart raced faster than the beat of the song.

* * *

 The three of them stumbled out a side door what seemed like hours later, giggling for no particular reason and sweaty. There was, somehow, glitter in their hair.

Allison stumbled against the wall and leaned against it, grinning. Scott put his hands against either side of her head and tried to catch his breath. Isaac leaned on the wall beside her.

“There’s been something we’ve been meaning to do for a while now,” Isaac started a quiet beat later. Allison looked at him. He was staring down at her warily. Unlike Scott, Isaac and Allison were very similar in the respect of wearing their hearts on their sleeves.

They didn’t.

“Yeah?,” Allison prompted. “What’s that?”

There was a silent exchange between Isaac and Scott. Isaac nodded. Scott took her hands in his and smiled gently. Time seemed to slow down.

He leaned in and kissed her slowly. Allison’s fingers twitched in his. He leaned back almost immediately and bit his lip, as if scared of her reaction.

Allison nearly snorted. Lydia had been right. You really couldn’t possibly wait for men to make _decisions_.

She grabbed him from the lapels of his button down and pushed him against the wall, reversing their positions, then kissed him roughly. Isaac gave a noise of surprise beside them.

Scott, bless his heart, got over his momentary shock and kissed her back, bringing his hands up into her hair. Allison felt her pulse all the way down to her toes.

She detached herself from Scott who chased after her lips, dazed. She put a hand on his mouth to stop him, smiling. She turned to Isaac.

“Come here, you,” she said, then pulled him down to her height from his shirt, an odd feeling in her stomach. Allison thought they called it “butterflies”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooooooooooo shit is haaappening
> 
> 1) im pretending the dread doctors dont exist bc they gave me so much anxiety so like. no  
> 2) MY CHILDREN FINALLY KISSED CAN I GET AN AMEN
> 
> hope u enjoyed!! feedback is always welcome xoxo


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News of Kate's not-quite rise from the dead spread, and Allison meets new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so horrible at updating this story even though the pack are my Children and im so so sorry about it
> 
> anyway, this chapter and the next were originally gonna be one chapter but i had to split it up because i go nuts when i write
> 
> i SWEAR im writing the new chapter right now 
> 
> enjoy my babies xoxo

The next morning, Allison woke up between two very warm bodies. This was nothing unusual for her anymore; most of the pack often slept in the same bed, but the warm bodies on either side of her were not Lydia, Kira, or Malia.

They were Scott and Isaac.

Allison blinked up at the ceiling with a grin on her face. She had a large shirt on that either belonged to Scott or Isaac, and both boys were shirtless. Scott was sleeping on his stomach, but with his right arm over her waist, and Isaac was sleeping on her other side, face tucked in the crook of her neck and his arm over her waist and on Scott’s back.

Isaac moved a little. Her sped-up heartbeat had probably registered in his ears. He sniffed adorably, then moved his head back a little and blinked his eyes open. She smiled down at him.

He smiled, then put his face back in her neck and hugged her tighter. “Good morning,” he croaked quietly.

“Good morning,” she whispered.

Allison knew that they -unfortunately- hadn’t done anything. They had kissed outside the club for so long, Danny had come to tell her her break was up (he hadn’t looked happy about breaking them up so she hadn’t gotten too pissed at him) and they had all gone back inside to dance the rest of the night away.

They’d all come back to their apartments on foot, unwilling to be separated even for a second. Kira and Malia had slept at Allison’s apartment as Lydia had brought a girl back to theirs and now with the threat of her aunt over their heads, she was unwilling to follow anyone back home. Erica and Boyd had gone to sleep at Stiles and Liam’s apartment.

“How did you sleep?,” Isaac asked. Bathed in the white light that shone through the blinds and with his curls all over the place, he looked very young and innocent.

She placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Like a baby,” she said. He smiled, crinkles around his eyes.

“Me too,” Scott said on her other side. She turned. He hadn’t moved at all.

“Good morning,” Isaac said loudly, and tickled his side. Scott yelped, and moved away so fast he fell off the bed.

Allison and Isaac looked at him for a moment, a grumpy heap of tanned limbs and white sheets, and then they were laughing, bodies touching everywhere. Scott scowled at them from his spot on the floor, but gave up quickly and started laughing with them. He climbed back on the bed and Allison was forced to detach herself from Isaac as Scott moved to sit between them.

“Good morning, you jerks,” Scott said, planting a big kiss on Isaac’s cheek, then on Allison’s. Allison grinned. She thought she would never stop grinning.

Scott suddenly scrambled off the bed, and grabbed both Allison’s and Isaac’s hands. “Come on,” he said, pulling them. “We need to brush our teeth. I want to kiss you both.”

They followed him to the bathroom, although it could hardly fit two people, let alone three, but Scott was persistent. And Allison couldn’t lie; when it was them three, she didn’t feel crowded.

Allison was in the middle of brushing her teeth, and the last one of the three to do so when the door burst open to admit the entire pack, Stiles at the front, from the sounds of it. She poked her head out of the washroom. He was wielding donuts, bagels, and muffins like a white flag.

“Good morning, you gays,” he coughed theatrically “sorry I meant, _you guys_.”

Allison went back inside to spit out the toothpaste and wipe her face. She stepped out of the washroom and Lydia’s eyes immediately zeroed in on her outfit. She smirked.

Allison wasn’t usually a blushing person, but she felt her face start to get hot. She looked away and made eye contact with Scott. He grinned. She couldn’t help but grin back.

“Soooooo,” Stiles started, taking the breakfast food he’d gotten out of the bags“did y’all finally get together? I swear to god standing around you three was awkward and you never even did anything but man, the sexual tension-”

“You only say that because you haven’t gotten laid since New Year’s,” Isaac sneered. Stiles’ mouth fell open.

“Wow, Lahey. You didn’t have to drag me like that.”

“Anyway,” Erica said loudly, jumping on the couch and pulling Boyd down with her. “What’s the plan today?”

“I don’t know,” Kira said, sitting down beside Boyd and allowing Malia to curl on her lap. “Malia and I are working again.”

“Yeah, we have the night shift tonight. The manager has a crush on Kira,” Malia said, looking distinctly unhappy.

Kira blinked at them. “What?”

Malia snorted. “Oh, please. Why do you think he hired you?”

Kira’s mouth fell open. “He’s had a crush on me for that long?”

Malia just looked at her like they couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed. On Boyd’s other side, Erica was pouting.

Before anyone could say anything, Scott’s phone rang. He looked at the screen and his eyes widened. He answered it quickly.

“Deaton, hey,” he said. All the heads in the room swerved to him.

“Yeah, of course. Have a safe trip. See you soon,” Scott said after a moment and hung up.

“What did he say?,” Stiles asked. He looked frustrated that, unlike most of the pack, he couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation.

“He’s coming down with your dad,” Scott said, looking at Allison. “They’ll be here around 7.”

Allison wasn’t surprised that her dad hadn’t called her, but she was still annoyed. Isaac must have realized because he came and sat beside her in the loveseat and put a comforting hand on her knee. She leaned into him with a heavy sigh.

There was a knock on the door and the whole room seemed to come to a standstill before Scott, Isaac, Erica, Malia and Boyd stood up abruptly, shock written on their faces.

“What’s going on?,” Stiles asked, standing up. The rest followed, Lydia and Kira exchanging looks.

Scott, who Stiles had directed the question to, didn’t answer. He walked to the door and opened it.

“Derek, Cora,” he greeted, sounding stiff. “It’s good to see you.”

* * *

Derek Hale was almost exactly like Allison had imagined him.

The moment he and his sister had stepped in the living room, he had taken one look at her and scowled. He was tall and _ripped_ underneath that leather jacket and quite handsome, Allison supposed, with a severe jawline and light, piercing eyes. Still, she couldn’t look at him without remembering Scott’s story of how her aunt had treated him and his family.

They were sitting down in the couch now, Derek holding himself as if ready for a fight. Cora, his sister, looked more relaxed, but Allison had noticed she had tensed momentarily when she laid her eyes -darker than Derek’s- on Lydia. The whole pack had repositioned themselves around them, Erica and Boyd beside Derek, and Scott beside Cora, Isaac on the arm of the couch beside him. Liam was sitting on the arm of the loveseat, nervous around the new werewolves, while Malia and Kira were left standing, Malia scowling down at their cousins, and Kira trying to calm them down. Stiles and Lydia were sitting on either side of Allison, Stiles a bundle of nerves every time Derek so much as looked in their direction.

Allison had so many questions.

“Thanks for leaving,” Malia was snarling. Derek, to his credit, looked a bit ashamed. Cora looked indifferent, probably because she’d never even met Malia.

“Would you have followed me?,” Derek asked, his eyes sliding to Kira. Malia actually blushed.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Malia grumbled. Derek scoffed.

“Okay, look, I’m glad the Hales are having a family reunion and all,” Stiles started, shoulders tensing as Derek and Cora swung their eyes over at him “but we’re sort of in the middle of something here.”

“Before we go down that road,” Scott said, looking suspicious “what are _you_ doing here?”

Stiles put a hand up to stop Derek from replying. He scowled at him, but Stiles was busy practically manhandling his phone out of his back pocket.

Allison craned her neck to look. Stiles was typing in the group chat.

Stiles: _[Show this to the Hales] you’re here for SheWhoMustNotBeNamed aren’t you?_

The whole pack went to reach for their phones as they buzzed with the sound of an incoming text, but Scott, having had his phone out, saw the message first. He showed it to Derek, whose face darkened as he read. He nodded stiffly. Cora looked suddenly murderous, but she said nothing. Derek took Scott’s phone and started typing.

Scott: _so the rumours are true then. Shes alive_

Erica got up and reached for the TV. She turned the volume up on some kind of action movie and sat back down beside Boyd.

Stiles: _does ur dear uncle know about this btw?_

Derek and Cora tensed simultaneously at the mention of their uncle. Malia, reading the texts over Kira’s shoulder, threw Stiles a dirty look. They didn’t like to be reminded of the existence of Peter Hale. Allison didn’t blame them.

Scott: _if we heard it, he definitely knows_

Stiles: _where is he then?_

Scott: _no clue. Haven’t spoken to him in years_

Stiles sighed out loud. Scott’s jaw was clenched. Allison sent him a concerned look which he didn’t notice.

Scott: _have u seen her?_

Allison: _i have_

Derek cast her a suspicious look. Allison arched an eyebrow.

Scott: _and?_

Allison: _she wants to lure ur uncle by using scott somehow. Hes the bait_

The whole pack seemed to tense as they were reminded of that. Derek and Cora glanced at Scott. His face had gone blank.

Allison rubbed her temples. They were in for a long day.

* * *

It wasn’t long until Derek and Cora took their leave, citing need for rest out loud but telling them they were going to try and find some kind of trail over text. Some of the group left for their own apartments to clean up and check on things. Lydia left for school, Boyd and Scott went to work, and Allison went to her apartment to get ready for her first class of the semester.

And of course, she wasn’t alone when she entered her apartment.

“So,” Kate said, reclining on her couch like she owned it, “you’ve met Derek.”

Allison flopped down on the armchair, her face as expressionless as possible. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Not long,” Kate assured her, shrugging. “Theo told me he saw Derek and his sister entering your building and I came as fast as possible.”

“How do they not smell you?”

Kate -Allison didn’t know when she had gone from “her aunt” to “Kate” in her head, but she was grateful for it; it made all this easier- smiled at her like she was a naive child. “There are ways to hide your scent, which clearly your pups don’t know.” Here her face screwed up, like she had swallowed a lemon. “You smell like _them_.”

She made sure her face showed absolutely nothing, but she felt all warm inside. She had barely been around the pack for a month, but she was already a part of them, a part of a group built on love and trust, and something bigger than humanity itself.

She was part of a family that loved her and supported her unconditionally.

“Well, I can’t help that, if you want your plan to work,” was all she said.

Kate rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said, in a tone that made Allison’s hackles rise. “What did Derek want?”

“He’s...heard things. Rumours, about you.”

Kate lifted an eyebrow. “Theo didn’t hear anything like that.”

Allison scoffed. “He texted Scott that. He said he didn’t want to be heard. He’s not as stupid as he looks,” she lied, then immediately felt bad about shit-talking Derek. He had never done anything to her to warrant such words.

Kate laughed derisively. “Doubt it. But this is good. It means Peter will be following soon, if he hasn’t already.”

“You think he has?,” Allison asked, really nervous for the first time. Although Derek and Cora were okay, and -if not kind of friends at least- allies of the pack, from the way they had spoken and acted about him whenever he was brought up, Allison got the feeling that Peter wasn’t someone she wanted to meet.

“Wouldn’t put it past him,” Kate said, then cocked her head as if listening. “Gotta go,” she said, then grinned abruptly as she got up and moved to the window. There was something almost feral about her, less controlled than the werewolves she was familiar with, even Malia. “I’ll be in touch,” she said, leaving through the window.

Allison stood in her empty living room for a while, trying to get her breathing under control. Her back was very stiff, hands fisted tightly on her hips.

She turned to her bedroom to get ready for class.

* * *

Allison’s first day of college consisted of three classes back-to-back and little else. She barely talked to any people, only making polite conversation and getting a couple of numbers in case she needed notes or assignments. She made sure to not linger around people and pay more attention to her professors than who was sitting around her.

She had been checking her phone all throughout her classes, not really knowing what she was expecting, but feeling ready to snap at any moment, like a bowstring stretched too far.

When she got out of her last class for the day, Scott and Isaac were waiting for her. A knot in her back came loose, her face splitting into a grin as they spotted her. She hurried over to them, then paused. Should she kiss them? How would that go down in public, even in a city like San Francisco?

Apparently, neither of them cared about that, Scott pulling her in for a chaste kiss on the lips, then letting Isaac do the same. Their smiles were bright, their gazes full of-

Her hands shook. She didn’t dare think it.

“Hi,” she said, nearly cringing at how breathless she sounded. “I thought you were still at work,” she told Scott. He shrugged, looking mildly uncomfortable.

“Well, it was pretty slow and I kinda faked a family emergency. I didn’t completely fake it, but.”

Allison frowned immediately. “What’s wrong?”

Scott and Isaac blinked down at her, like they hadn’t expected that response. “Nothing,” Isaac reassured her. “But Deaton and your dad are here. They’re waiting at Scott’s apartment.”

“Your dad wanted to pick you up, but we insisted. We didn’t really know if you wanted to see him without having a chance to prepare yourself,” Scott explained. Allison grabbed each other their hands as they started walking towards the direction of their building.

“Thank you,” she said softly, squeezing their hands. They squeezed back.

The walk home was short and pretty silent, but Allison’s tense muscles were back to normal as Scott’s and Isaac’s thumbs rubbed soothing circles on the back of her palms. She tensed only a little bit as they got into the elevator, the reminder of what lay ahead making her bite her lip.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Scott said, no doubt sensing her distress. Isaac squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“I know,” Allison said. “I just...haven’t seen him in quite a while and we didn’t separate on great terms, plus now I know about...you know, so. I don’t really know where we stand.”

The elevator door opened, and they all squeezed out, walking to Scott’s door slowly.

“Well,” he said, taking a deep breath, “we’re about to find out.”

They got in the apartment, Allison the last to enter. Stiles, Erica, Liam were there, plus Derek, Cora, an older black man that had to be Deaton, and her father, who had gotten up the moment he heard the door open.

He approached Allison, barely glancing at Scott and Isaac on either side of her. He looked tired and anxious, dark circles under his eyes, a few days of stubble on his jaw.

“Allison,” he said, and there was so much pain in his voice, Allison was hit by a new wave of guilt and sadness.

She put her arms around him without a second thought, clinging to him tightly. He hugged her back, shaking.

“Hi Dad,” she said, her voice embarrassingly weak. His arms tightened. She was angry at herself for not thinking how her Dad would feel with his sister becoming an evil supernatural mastermind with the death of his wife and the incapacitation of his father still fresh.

Finally, her Dad slowly let her go a bit, stepping back to look at her. Scott and Isaac had gone into the living room and were conversing with Deaton in low voices, trying to give them some privacy.

“You look...well,” he said. His eyes were too bright.

“I...I’m happy here,” she said, glancing around the room. He followed her eyes, which had landed on Scott and Isaac. He turned back to her, eyebrows raised.

She pointed a finger at him. “The “I import and export guns” speech is totally unnecessary here,” she told him, remembering the last time she was in a relationship her Dad knew about. He huffed, a bit of humour colouring his expression.

“I know,” he said reluctantly, like trusting and respecting Scott and his pack was not something he liked doing. She grinned at him and his eyes softened.

Suddenly, she needed some time alone with him, in her own private space. She trusted everyone in the room, and she knew they could hear her even when she was in her apartment, but she wanted her Dad’s shoulders -tense under the pack's watchful gazes - to relax.

“Do you want to see my apartment?,” she asked. He’d never visited her in Seattle. He nodded.

Allison looked at Scott, who nodded, smiling gently. Deaton was watching her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she told him. He inclined his head, and then Allison was leading her father out, who grabbed his bags before allowing her to pull him out and shut the door. She unlocked her apartment and stepped in, checking the rooms while her Dad got settled in the living room.

She went back into the living room. He was looking around carefully.

“You’ve done well,” he told her. She tried not to beam under the praise, sitting down on the armchair.

He unzipped one bag. It was full of weapons, which did not surprise her. He pulled out the crossbow he’d gotten her for her 18th birthday and handed it to her. She took it carefully.

“Do you still know how to shoot?,” he asked her. She nodded.

“I haven’t practiced in….a while, but I think so.” He nodded like he’d expected her answer, then pulled out a couple of guns and a set of Chinese knives. Finally, he pulled out a large tome she’d seen in his study back at home. The Bestiary.

“We don’t know what’s in store for us exactly,” he said, looking up at her seriously, “so we better start training.”

She nodded. They had work to do.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misfortune finally strikes the pack, and Allison chooses her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aNOTHER CHAPTER SO SOON??????????? yes i kno
> 
> it's probably bc it's almost done but im sO EXCITED to write these chapters.
> 
> anyway, enjoy xoxo

Allison and her father left the shooting range well after midnight. She was exhausted and her fingers were one movement away from cramping, but she was satisfied with everything she had done that night, and her father’s expression -lighter than before- mirrored that.

They hadn’t just used guns. They’d also gone to the archery range (that had gone even better; Allison had forgotten how much she liked archery) and they’d talked and sparred for a good part of the night. She would need more training, of course, but she wouldn’t be completely defenseless when everything her aunt had in store finally fell into place.

“Hello brother,” Kate called out, practically materializing out of the shadows of the building.

It was like Allison had summoned her. She cursed internally. Her father’s hand fell to his waist, close to where his gun was tucked. Allison’s own hand tightened on her sports bag where she had stashed her bow, but she hadn’t made arrows yet so it wasn’t like she could use it anyway. There was a gun in there, too, but loaded with normal bullets. Still, Allison didn't know how ready she was to shoot her aunt with anything.

“Kate,” her father said tightly. “When were you gonna tell me you’re alive?”

Kate tilted her head with a slow grin. “Why are you here Chris? Did your puppies call you? I’m having a hard time figuring out who’s the real bitch here.”

Allison bit her tongue hard enough to feel it, her knuckles going white around the top of her bag.

“I’m a hunter. My job is to deal with supernatural threats, which is what McCall’s pack has been apparently dealing with. You would know why I do what I do if you actually respected the Code.”

Kate groaned. “The Code! The Code took your wife’s life! The Code almost had me committing suicide!”

Her father had gone rigid at the mention of her mother. When he spoke again, his voice was like ice. “Why didn’t you?”

Kate froze at that. Her voice was deathly quiet when she spoke again. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” her father said, taking a step towards Kate. Allison was suddenly struck with fear for him. She reached out to grab his arm in case she had to pull him back.

“I’ll tell you why,” her father continued before Kate could say anything. “You don’t give a shit” Allison startled at that; she’d never heard her father swear before “about the Code, or even werewolves. You’d hate anything more powerful than you. You’re no better than the likes of Peter.”

Kate’s eyes shone green at that. She growled and moved forward.

Allison didn’t think. She whipped open her bag and grabbed the gun. She pointed it at Kate, her arm shockingly steady. She pulled the safety back, the gun already loaded from her practice. Kate looked up at her, surprised.

“Aunt Kate,” Allison said stiffly, “I love you, but don’t do anything stupid.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you’d already chosen your side.”

“I have,” Allison said. That wasn’t a lie after all. “But not like this. We’ll talk again when everyone’s calmed down, okay? You’re not thinking clearly.”

Kate snorted, eyes still narrowed. “You’re a fast learner.” She smiled unpleasantly. “I should have gotten my hands on you sooner,” she said, and then she was gone, leaping up on the wall and over the roof of the shooting range silently.

Her father waited a bit, eyes on the roof, before speaking again. “What did she mean, “already chosen your side”?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” she said quietly, nudging him to turn around and follow her. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

He nodded stiffly and followed her down the road to his parked car with a last glance behind him.

* * *

The call came in the middle of Allison’s recounting of all the weird, supernatural-related shit that had happened to her ever since moving to San Francisco, around the day Kate and Theo’s pack paid her a visit. It was Boyd, which was weird in itself. Boyd rarely spoke to her on the phone.

“Boyd?,” Allison asked. Her father’s posture immediately straightened, even though he didn’t look away from the road. The range was actually kinda far from the apartment.

“Allison, where are you?,” Boyd asked, voice tight. Allison suddenly had a bad feeling.

“On our way home, why? What’s wrong?”

“Kira’s gone. Someone beat up Malia and took her from the gym.”

“Stop the car,” she told her father sharply. He pulled over, sending her a quizzical look.

“Scott, Isaac, Liam, Erica, Derek and Deaton are already there. Cora is staying at home with Stiles and Lydia. Allison. She had a vision.”

Allison inhaled sharply and gave her father brief directions to the gym before speaking on the phone again. “Is Kira dead?,” she asked, voice deceivingly calm.

“No, but we need to hurry. I’m heading over to the gym right now. Meet us there,” he said, and the line went dead.

“Allison!,” her father called sharply, like it wasn’t the first time he was doing it. She wrenched her eyes away from the phone and looked at him. He looked focused and determined, a hunter on the job.

“Kira was kidnapped from the gym. Most of the pack is there right now,” she explained. He nodded.

“I have arrows in the side pocket of the bag. I would have liked for you to make and use your own arrows but- grab those, and your bow. And the knives.”

She twisted back into the back seat and did as she asked, tucking the knives in her belt, and sliding the arrows into their sheath before pulling that on her back. Her father parked the car hurriedly and then they were out, marching determinedly into the gym.

It was deserted at this time of the night, Allison’s sneakers and her father’s boots echoing on the floor. They took the stairs up to Malia’s classroom two at a time, Derek meeting them at the top. Worryingly, there was blood on his shirt.

The classroom was a mess. The barre had been ripped off the wall, and the mirror was cracked in places and streaked with blood. The floor was bloody too, and there was a thick, clear, liquid puddle that Allison didn’t want to examine too closely.

“Kanima poison,” Liam told her, voice tight. He had seen her looking.

An idea formed in her mind suddenly. She unsheathed a couple of bows and dipped their tips in the liquid before putting them back again. Liam gave her a weird look, but didn’t say anything.

“Wolfsbane?,” her father was asking the circle around Malia. Isaac, the farthest away from Malia, nodded tightly. Allison went to stand between him and Erica, touching both of their arms briefly.

“And kanima poison,” Deaton said, finally standing up. Malia's wounds were slowly healing with the antidote he had given them, and thankfully they hadn't been shot. They seemed to be regaining movement in their limbs, and a steady growl was emanating from their chest.

“Kira,” they growled. They strained against the kanima poison lingering in their body.

“Malia. Who attacked you?,” Derek asked calmly, kneeling by their side.

“It was Tracy,” Allison said. Everyone looked up at her in surprise. “She’s the kanima chimera.”

Malia grinned unpleasantly, all teeth. They were still very pale. “Kira cut her tail off after she immobilized me but that asshole-,” they choked up here like they didn’t like remembering it.

“Theo,” Allison guessed. There was no way Corey could have attacked Malia and Kira and win.

“The Alpha?,” Scott asked, finally looking up from Malia. He was almost entirely wolfed out, eyes bright red and fangs dropping from his mouth. His expression, normally so friendly and open, was now unrecognizable. A shiver went up Allison’s spine. She ignored it.

“I don’t think he’s really an Alpha,” Allison said, trying to clearly recall Theo in her memory.

“How so?,” her father asked. He was using his “business voice” now, back straight and legs in a fighting stance.

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. I’ve never seen him wolfed out but he- he doesn’t move like Scott does.”

It was a shitty answer, in Allison’s opinion, but no one seemed to question it. Deaton hummed thoughtfully.

“Maybe his biology doesn’t allow him to actually be an Alpha. Bitten and born werewolves can and _do_ move through ranks," he said, glancing at Derek and then Scott. "I’ve never seen or studied  _Chimeras_ before, but maybe the fact that he became a supernatural creature through other means doesn’t allow him to move through werewolf ranks like a...normal werewolf.”

Her father nodded tightly. Malia grunted, finally sitting up.

“Great,” they bit. “That doesn’t help us find Kira.”

“Did you notice anything about your attackers?,” her father asked. “A smell?”

Malia frowned, thinking. “Their personal scents were masked but when Theo kicked me...I think I smelled something on his shoes, like...rust and old fish?”

Everyone in the room pondered that, the weres probably trying to remember if and where they’d smelled such a thing, but a commotion in the gym startled them. Allison immediately grabbed her knives, her father his gun.

“It’s Boyd and Cora,” Derek growled, looking pissed. Or maybe that was just his eyebrows.

“And Lydia and Stiles,” Isaac said, just as the people in question stumbled in the room.

Cora looked pissed, Boyd his usual stoic self. Stiles and Lydia looked alarmingly pale as they took in the room slowly. Stiles ran to Malia’s side, who had given up on fully standing for the moment.

“Are you alright?,” he asked shakily.

“I’m fine,” Malia said, sniffing him. “Did you have a panic attack?”

Stiles didn’t seem bothered by the fact that it had been announced to the room at large, probably because most of them could smell it. “Like, three,” was his only response. Scott squeezed his shoulder.

“We’re just figuring out where they’ve taken Kira,” Isaac informed the newcomers.

“Lydia, did you notice anything about the place in your vision?,” Deaton asked calmly. Lydia’s mouth was a tight line.

“No. I just know they’re keeping her in a glass tank with water.”

“So she doesn’t go all Thor on their asses,” Stiles said. Malia snorted, although it was very weak.

“I think I know where they’re keeping her,” Allison said. Everyone turned to look at her, but it was her father that realized what she was about to say. They made eye contact.

“The docks,” he finished.

Stiles groaned. “They could be keeping her anywhere.”

“That would be true, if it was anyone but Kate,” her father said, jaw clenching. “I know where they’re keeping her.”

Malia stood up quickly at that. “Let’s go then.”

“You,” Derek said, pointing at Stiles and Lydia “are going back home.”

“Not a fucking chance,” they said in unison.

“You’re no use to us dead,” Cora growled. Lydia looked ready to growl back at her.

“We’re not completely defenseless,” Stiles argued, reaching into Lydia’s bag and pulling out two black batons. He pressed on one of them and it expanded, electricity crackling from its end. Derek actually backed away, eyes on the baton.

“You’re not gonna convince them to stay, Derek,” Scott said, sounding resigned. Probably because this felt like an ancient argument. “Stiles, you take your jeep, Lydia and Deaton, and follow Chris and Allison,” he instructed seriously. Stiles nodded and put the batons back, and he, Deaton and Lydia left. “Malia, can you run?” They nodded. “Okay good, then the rest of us will follow on foot. It’s faster.”

Allison and her father left the gym and walked back to their car in quick steps. The weres, even Derek and Boyd who were easily the biggest in the group, disappeared into the night silently, but Allison knew they were close enough to be able to still follow her father.

They drove away from the gym in silence, Stiles’ Jeep clearly visible behind them. Her father’s phone rang suddenly. He handed it over to Allison so she could pick it up. It was an unknown number, and she was instantly suspicious.

“This is Chris Argent’s phone,” she said gruffly. A cold, unfamiliar chuckle sounded in her ear.

“But this is Chris Argent’s daughter, yes?”

“Who is this?,” she asked sharply. Her father glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

“Some of the werewolves around you might have recognized me already. This is Peter Hale.”

The car swerved suddenly as something heavy thumped on the roof and her father was milliseconds away from firing up into it when Derek’s wolfed out face appeared outside her window. Allison would have laughed any other time -seriously how did eyebrows like Derek’s just disappear- but Derek’s pissed off wolfed out face was even scarier than his human one. He wrenched the back door open with a clawed hand and twisted his body until he was in, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Ah, that must be my nephew,” Peter said, sounding pleased. Derek growled.

“What the fuck do you want?,” Allison asked. Peter gave a completely theatrical gasp.

“And here I thought some hunters knew manners,” he said. “Well, I did want to inform you that your friend is currently lying on Scott’s floor unconscious, but-”

“What?!- Dad stop the car- how did Kira get home?”

“How am I supposed to know?,” Peter asked calmly. “All I know is that I came to say hi to a dear old friend and she was just lying on his doormat. I didn’t think the neighbours would like that very much so I took her inside but she is in quite a state. She’s barely breathing actually.”

Derek was out of the car again like lightning, probably to take the others home.

“Now that my nephew is gone and not listening,” Peter started. Allison’s stomach immediately dropped. “Go meet your dear old aunt down at the docks. She has a plan for you.” He hung up with no further explanation.

Allison’s hand clenched around the phone. Her father was looking at her worriedly.

“We’re going down at the docks,” Allison said. “Peter said Kate has a plan for us,” she explained.

“What about Kira?,” her father asked. He didn’t question the “plan” part.

“She’s at home. The others are heading back now,” she said. Her father started the car again.

“Dad?,” she asked. He hummed in acknowledgement.

“Would you be sad if Kate died?”

Her Dad was silent for a moment. “I already mourned her once. I’ve made my peace with her.”

Allison didn’t think that really answered her question but she just hummed in response.

“Would _you_ be sad?”

“I’ve made my peace with her,” was all Allison said.

* * *

The part of the docks her father took her to stank of the bad side of the sea; old, rotten fish, rusted boats, rusted equipment.

Rot, decay, death.

Allison remembered this place vividly, although she had been taken here only once, by her mother, around 10 years ago when she had thrown an embarrassingly big tantrum about being left home. Allison had never complained about that again after her trip down here, and she didn’t blame her ten-year-old self.

This part of the docks was completely abandoned; no fishing boats, no tourists, or locals, just dozens of abandoned warehouses that served as storage. Her father left the car way back before the long line of warehouses and got out. He didn’t bother locking the car. Allison followed silently.

As they got closer to a warehouse that looked perfectly normal from the outside, Allison heard a short but pained howl. She and her father exchanged a look, and then her father was sliding back the big rusty door and Allison was stepping into the room, a hand on her knives.

The building inside had been mostly cleared out, only the skeleton of a big, ancient boat sitting in the center. Chained from it, were Liam and Hayden, both pale and unconscious. Wolfsbane had been woven through their chains.

Theo and Tracy were standing guard, Corey nowhere to be seen. Theo grinned at their entrance. Allison saw red for a brief moment before she got her heartbeat under control. Kate jumped from the balcony over head.

“So, you got Peter’s call,” she said.

“I don’t understand,” Allison said. Her voice was clear and strong. It was probably the adrenaline that was starting to surge through her veins.

“Stupid little Hayden tried to help her boyfriend instead of kidnapping him silently,” Kate explained, nodding towards Hayden. "Thankfully, your pups get really easily distracted," she added, amused. 

“Kate,” her father said. He had lowered his gun but he hadn’t put it away. “Explain.”

Kate grinned. Their interaction from the morning seemed to be forgotten. “Well, Peter and I have come to an agreement. You see, Scott would be easily taken care of, since my dear niece,” here she pinched Allison’s cheek with more force than necessary “had so nicely agreed to help me, but since Derek and Cora came up it would make it a bit more difficult. Derek after all, still harbors an infatuation with me.”

Unless the meaning of the word had changed since Allison had last checked, she was convinced that Kate was badly mistaken of Derek’s feelings towards her. She said nothing.

“So,” Kate continued, “Peter has decided to help me put him down, thus enabling us to take down Scott.”

“You can’t both take down Scott if you want his power,” her father said. Allison had no idea what he was thinking, but she really hoped they were on the same page.

“Obviously,” Kate scoffed. “It’s where you come in. You’re gonna take down Peter like I should have a decade ago.”

Her father digested this in silence for a moment, then he shrugged. “He’s had it coming for a long time anyway.”

Kate laughed -or more like barked, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Stiles said in her head- and slapped him on the shoulder, heedless of the gun still in his hand. “I knew you’d come around. Take positions,” she said, pointing up to the balcony where Allison could have a good vantage point for her bow “they’ll be here soon.”

The two Argents walked to the rusty staircase, passing by the two chained up werewolves on the way. 

She looked away, slid her knives away, and started climbing.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The showdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super long chapter ahead!!! (like nearly 5k). this one is pretty graphic (like, teen wolf graphic so just. be wary of that) but also we have TWO character deaths.
> 
> not anyone u like tho (i hope) so ;)
> 
> let me know if i need to tag something or change the minor character death warning. im not sure how minor the characters actually are but one of them only shows up in this chapter in the entire fic, so
> 
> anyway, enjoy xoxo
> 
> p.s. i gave sheriff stilinski the name john (im like 99% sure at least half of teen wolf fics use the same) but we don't actually know his name so. if u dont like the name just ignore that

She knew Scott was here a few moments before he actually arrived in the room because Theo’s head snapped up, eyes trained on the metal door expectantly. There was a manic grin on his face. Tracy did not look as excited. She hadn’t said anything the entire time Allison and her father had been here but Theo had tried to talk to her. After sensing how pissed off Allison was getting though, Kate had ordered him to go back to his post.

Allison and her father were perched on the balcony, bows at the ready. Allison had debated using her kanima-poisoned arrows from the get-go but had decided against it, afraid the supernatural creatures in the room (bar Corey; Allison still hadn’t seen him, and after eavesdropping in a quiet but tense exchange between Kate and Theo, she knew they didn’t know where he was either) would smell them if she took them out of the sheath.

Her father hadn’t talked to her, but she had caught him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, like he was trying to figure out what was really going on in her head.

 _Keep looking_ , she thought.

Underneath her, Kate suddenly grinned, and the door was slammed back, Scott,Isaac, Derek and Malia bursting in the room with huge roars. Erica, Boyd and Cora followed, and Stiles and Lydia brought up the rear. They both had the batons in their hands. Kira and Deaton hadn't come.

Allison didn’t flinch but she came close. She had never seen her friends like this before, all tense and ready to fight, and she had definitely never seen Scott looking so murderous. Adrenaline rushed through her veins at the sight of him. His angry, wholly wolfed out face made him practically unrecognizable.

“Scott McCall. You’ve grown up well,” Kate leered. Allison had to swallow back bile.

“Kate,” Scott growled through his fangs. “Let Liam and Hayden go.”

Hayden wasn’t even in his pack, and had probably caused him most of the trouble he’d been through the last few weeks, but he still defended her.

Allison wasn’t surprised she realized she was very much in love while having a bow trained on her friends.

Kate clicked her tongue. “You know I can’t do that, honey.”

A beat of silence greeted her words. Allison was surprised no one had looked up at her and her dad, yet.

“Very well,” Scott said, then gave a huge, demanding roar that Allison could have sworn shook the metal balcony she was on, and attacked, the pack following him.

Scott immediately went for Kate, who had transformed just for the occasion. Allison could have lived peacefully without seeing that version of her, ever. Derek and Cora went after Theo while Isaac, Boyd, and Erica attacked Tracy.

Although Kate was technically outnumbered, she was an excellent fighter, only made stronger by her transformation (but not as strong as Scott, Allison thought gleefully), and Theo was cruel and trained enough to avoid and counterattack Derek’s strong punches and Cora’s sly claws. And then there was Tracy.

She wasn’t as good of a fighter as Theo, but her very nature obviously worked in her favour as the werewolves were wary of her tail and claws. They had all experienced kanima poisoning before, Allison knew, and were likely not eager to repeat that again.

Her father was looking at her. When she looked up at him, he mouthed “are you ready?”

Allison squared her shoulders and nodded, looking back down at the fight, and gave a jolt as she realized Lydia and Stiles were looking up at her.

Lydia’s expression was that of pure devastation and betrayal as she gazed at Allison. Allison’s bow hand shook before she stabilized it.

Stiles was a different matter. He was clearly pissed, looking between her and her dad as if trying to decide who to scream at first.

She notched back an arrow. Kate had given them wolfsbane for the tips, but Allison had only rubbed it on one when she was looking and stashed the rest when she had turned away. Her father had followed her example without questioning, and now he followed her again, notching back an arrow. Allison did not look at Stiles and Lydia, although faintly, she heard them scream out seconds before Allison let her arrow fly and embed itself in Derek’s shoulder as he turned to attack Kate. He roared and turned blazing blue eyes on her. Kate used his distraction to throw him straight into a wall, and turned to grin at Allison.

Scott, who had turned his attention on Theo, noticed the commotion and looked up, freezing as his gaze fell on Allison before ducking to avoid Theo’s claws. He roared at him, but Allison had a feeling it wasn’t directed at Theo.

She forced her heartbeat to stay steady but she couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her gut.

The window behind her screeched open and then the balcony creaked as someone landed on it. Allison turned, notching another arrow and aiming at the newcomer.

Her father spat on the ground. “Peter.”

Allison looked carefully at the werewolf. He was of medium height, but clearly muscular under his thin, long-sleeved v-neck. His clothes looked expensive, his hair was pushed back, and there was a slick smile on his face, blue eyes shining with cunning and mirth. Allison might have considered him handsome if she hadn’t known how much of an actual psychopath he was.

“Chris, Allison,” he greeted, leaning against the railing to watch the ongoing fight.

“Interesting,” he said, raising his voice a little.

The effect was instantaneous. Everyone below looked up, even Kate and her minions. Kate grinned slowly. Derek, Cora, and Scott and his pack growled, with the exception of Lydia and Stiles. Allison was pretty sure she heard Lydia sigh, and she definitely heard Stiles wonder “why am I not fucking surprised?” out loud.

“Peter,” Kate said. “How nice of you to join us.”

Peter smiled, all teeth. “So, exactly how much time are you gonna spend circling around my prize before delivering it to me?”

Allison’s hand clenched around her bow, which was still notched and aimed at Peter.

Kate grinned. Scott, now standing closer to Kate, narrowed his eyes in suspicion and confusion before his expression smoothed out.

“Come and get it, sweetheart. I’m not doing _all_ of your dirty work.”

“No,” Peter mused, something dark passing over his face “you were never one for getting your hands dirty. But you know, I’m not convinced you have my best interests at heart.”

Allison wondered why the pack wasn’t using the pause in the fight to free Liam and Hayden, but everyone was transfixed.

“Why is that?,” Kate asked, although she didn’t sound interested at all.

Peter tilted his head. “Because your minions,” he growled, unknowingly echoing Allison’s previous thoughts, “aren’t trying to just knock him out long enough for me to do what I’m here for. They’re trying to kill him.”

Kate grinned again, and this time she was the one that showed her teeth. “You’re a perceptive little dog, aren’t you?”

Peter growled, and then Allison was trapped by unyielding arms, claws at her throat. Her bow cluttered to the floor.

Her father’s hand tightened on his bow, Allison noticed faintly. Blood was roaring in her ears, or maybe that was all Scott, who had nearly jumped up to them, but had been stopped by Derek.

“Do you remember how I killed you Kate?,” Peter asked, his breath on her ear making Allison shiver in disgust. “I’ll do the same to her, and this time no one will be coming back.”

Kate growled. Peter _tsk_ ed.

“We had a deal Kate. Hand over Scott and I’ll hand over Derek, but if you don’t keep your end of the deal I dont see why I should keep mine.”

“Allison wasn’t part of the deal,” Kate snapped. Peter chuckled lowly.

“No, but she’s so lovely and naive. A baby hunter in love with two werewolves, about to die for one of them. I’ve always loved tragedies.”

Scott roared again, the pack echoing him. Allison had to bite back a sob at their reaction.

Peter sniffed her. Allison tried to recoil but her head had nowhere to go. “Smells like guilt and sadness. Poor thing.”

Suddenly, Allison decided she had had it with his evil, condescending act, and she had fucking had it with him and Kate underestimating her and belittling her. A sound that was almost a growl ripped from her throat, and red coloured her vision.

She slammed her foot down hard on Peter’s instep. He gave a yelp of surprise which allowed just enough room for Allison to grab him, and lowering her center of gravity, throw him over her shoulder hard enough for the rail to actually break. He fell down below her, a roar ripping out of him at impact.

Shock was evident in everyone’s faces as Allison bent down and retrieved her bow, notching a kanima-poisoned arrow as her other one had fallen when part of the balcony had gone over with the railing. She straightened her back, chin up and eyes cold.

Peter, over his surprise, got up, shaking off parts of of the balcony and railing. He roared up at her with blue eyes like Derek’s and Malia’s, and would have jumped up to her if Scott hadn’t slammed into him.

Scott’s action was like a switch. Everyone attacked Kate, Theo, and Tracy again. Stiles and Lydia, guarded by Erica, rushed to Liam and Hayden and started to unchain them, taking care to avoid touching them with the wolfsbane-covered chains.

Her father was staring at her.

“What?,” she asked defensively.

“I-nothing,” he said. “What do you want to do?”

Allison looked down at the scene again. Scott and Peter had transferred to the center of the room. Peter was, to Allison’s dismay, a really good fighter, with obviously more training than Scott, who was now bleeding from several places even as they healed.

But Scott, Allison noticed, was getting stronger as they fought, his anger growing and fueling him every time he gazed at Liam’s unconscious form.

“Stiles!,” Lydia screamed. Allison’s throat closed up in horror.

Theo was lifting Stiles up by his _stomach_ , claws deep inside. Stiles’ expression was frozen in disbelief and pain, and he was spitting blood, choking noises escaping from his throat. His baton clattered to the ground. Erica growled and ripped Theo away from Stiles, slamming into him with enough force to send him flying. His claws wrenched out of Stiles with a sickening sound. He crumbled to the ground, unconscious from the shock of it.

Scott gave a terrifying roar, momentarily forgetting Peter, who saw his opportunity to strike.

He never got to. Allison let her arrow fly, and Peter only had a second to express his surprise before he fell like a log face down, paralyzed, her arrow sticking out from the back of his neck.

Scott looked up and met her eyes. Allison couldn’t read his expression from here. He turned away from her to rush over to Stiles. She notched a wolfsbane-covered arrow this time.

Boyd dragged Theo to Scott as Erica went to help Malia with Tracy, and dumped him in front of him as Kate got distracted by Isaac.

Allison was surprised by Isaac’s abilities. He didn’t look like a fighter usually, but now he moved with all the deadly grace and power of a werewolf, yellow eyes filled with hate and anger as he exchanged blows with Kate. Allison had to bite back a scream when Kate finally overpowered Isaac and threw him right to Tracy who swiped down with her claws and immobilized him.

Scott roared, moving away from Stiles and stepping over Theo who was knocked down by Boyd again as he tried to sit up. He started to fight Kate in earnest, claws drawing blood before Kate’s skin healed. Kate gave a sickening, loud laugh.

“Aw puppy,” Allison heard her coo as Scott swiped at her again “you were never much of a fighter.” She knocked his legs from under him and slammed him down by the throat. Allison’s heart stopped for a second. Her father beside her was tense.

And then, to the horror of everyone in the room, Kate shoved her claws in Scott’s chest.

“NO!,” someone screamed. It could have been anyone from the pack.

Allison didn’t know, and she didn’t care. She didn't even think before taking aim and letting her arrow fly.

Her aim was excellent.

Kate froze and took her claws out slowly, not reacting to Scott’s gasp of pain. She looked down at the arrow sticking out from her heart and up at Allison, accusatory.

“You,” she choked, going pale. She fell back. Lydia ran to Scott’s side immediately, hands flying to his chest. Allison couldn’t see from here, but she hoped Kate had missed his heart.

Kate was heaving on the ground, everyone freezing to stare at her.

Even from Allison’s spot, the wound looked sickeningly black, wolfsbane-darkened blood oozing from it. Kate’s face was deathly pale, and she choked a little more before finally falling back, eyes wide open and glassy. The snap of the arrowhead as it broke was loud and clear to Allison's ears.

There was a tense beat of silence as everyone stared at Kate, like they were making sure she was actually dead, and then everyone was roaring with newfound vigor and attacking Theo and Tracy.

Peter, however, was unfortunately starting to move, neck stretching sideways to try and watch the scene. She said as much, knowing someone would hear her.

Cora did. She was over to his side in an instant. She wrenched the arrow out and flipped him on his back. Derek followed.

Peter coughed, not sitting up yet. “Ding dong the witch is dead,” he deadpanned.

Derek scowled down at him.

“You haven’t learned from your mistakes at all, have you?,” Cora asked.

“You were always hungry for power, even before the fire,” Derek said.

“You died because of it once,” Cora continued.

“Children-,” Peter tried.

“And you’ll die again now,” Derek finished, Cora shoving her claws in Peter’s chest, who, still paralyzed from the chest down, had no way of stopping it. He looked stunned, and his expression froze like that as Cora ripped his heart out.

The Hale siblings stood still for a moment, Cora holding the heart in her hand for a second before dropping it besides Peter’s corpse. She turned away to go back into the fight, hand covered up to the wrist in her uncle’s blood.

*

After that, taking down Theo and Tracy was almost laughably easy. Boyd finally overpowered Theo and kicked him unconscious, and Scott, now standing, gave a huge roar that made Tracy freeze for a moment.

“Do you submit?,” he asked. There were finger marks and blood on his shirt where Kate had ripped into him, but the skin under was healing. She had, thankfully, missed his heart, but probably only by millimetres.

Tracy, over her shock, gave a horrible, desperate kanima roar instead, and launched herself at him. Scott sidestepped the attack, then stepped closer and kicked her in the chest with such force that she flew back into Malia’s outstretched hands. They knocked her so hard over the head that she crumbled unconscious like Theo.

There was silence, and then-

Scott roared again, this time in pure Alpha fashion, stance victorious. The wolves in the room echoed him.

* * *

 Allison found herself in the hospital an hour later.

It was around 4 am. Erica had gone home with Liam and Hayden, and Boyd had stayed behind in the warehouse to guard Theo and Tracy, who had been chained up with the chains they had used on their packmate and Liam. Kira, Deaton and Corey, who had apparently asked for Scott’s protection when Scott discovered him lurking in the hallway of their floor, were still home, although Kira had wanted to rush to the hospital to see Stiles despite being still a little weak from her time with Kate. Her healing wasn’t that of a werewolf’s.

Allison, her father, Scott, Isaac, Lydia, Derek and Cora were waiting for news of Stiles. The hospital had called his father and he was bound to arrive at any moment. He had called Scott to ask him what really happened, and was to take the first flight out to San Francisco.

Lydia, the moment Allison had stepped into the waiting room, had fallen in her arms, crying. Allison had just tightened her grip and sat her down wordlessly.

Her father and Scott were having a quiet conversation that Allison had tried and failed to eavesdrop on.

Surprisingly, Derek came to sit beside her. She looked at him.

He looked like a wreck. His shirt was torn and bloody (but so was Scott’s, Isaac’s, and Cora’s; nurses had been steering clear of them) and he looked exhausted.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hey,” he replied. “How are you feeling?”

Allison was surprised again. He really didn’t look like the _feelings talk_ type.

She shrugged. “I’m good. All of the people I care about are here.”

He stared at her. “You killed your aunt.”

“You killed your uncle.”

He shrugged his huge shoulders. “I already killed my uncle once and mourned him long before that,” he admitted.

“We’re more similar than either of us care to admit,” she said. He snorted, a smile playing around his mouth. She smiled hesitantly.

“It’s just you and Cora now though,” she said, her smile disappearing. He shrugged, but he wasn’t smiling either.

“Ten years ago it was just me and Laura. Then it was just me.”

“And you and Peter, for a while.”

His mouth twisted. “Not long,” he said. “I’m not stupid. I realized he couldn’t give me a pack pretty quickly.”

“Is that what you want now? A pack?”

Derek looked away. “I have Cora,” he said gruffly.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

Derek scoffed but seemed to think about it for a moment. “I was never meant to be an Alpha,” he said finally. “I wanted a pack yes, but it did not work out for me.”

“You don’t have to be an Alpha. You just need one,” she said, looking at Scott, who was still talking to her father. Allison was itching to know what they were talking about.

Derek looked at Scott, too. “We haven’t had the best relationship,” he said, quietly enough so only she and Lydia could hear him. Allison had a feeling Isaac was trying to listen in anyway.

“Maybe not,” Allison replied. Lydia was looking up at her now. The tears had stopped. “But you can still fix it. Plus, Scott is a pretty flexible Alpha. I’m sure you can work something out that works for you both.”

Derek looked at her carefully for a moment, then nodded and got up so her father, back from his conversation with Scott, could sit. Derek went back to his sister, and to Allison’s immense surprise ( _again_ ), they hugged tightly and clung to each other.

“How are you feeling?,” her father asked. Allison huffed. Lydia got up slowly, kissed her on the cheek and went to sit by Isaac and Scott who were trying to subtly look at her from the corner of their eyes and failing. Allison’s heart thumped in her chest.

“I’m fine,” she said. Her father sighed.

“You’re not,” he said simply. “You just killed your aunt, Allison.”

Allison looked at him fiercely. “I killed a monster that was about to kill someone I love, and a monster that had been hurting the people I care about for a while now. Isn’t that what a hunter is supposed to do?”

Her father looked at her, stunned, then smiled. Allison was a little startled. “Yes, I think so. And you’re the best I know.”

Allison flushed. “I doubt that.”

“You shouldn’t,” her father said. “Our motto is “ _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent_ ” and that’s exactly what you did. Kate has defied the Code several times, and if she hadn’t died by your hand, either I or any other hunter would have had to put her down. It’s what we do.”

Allison scowled. “I don’t like that motto.”

Her father frowned. He opened his mouth to answer but Allison beat him to it.

“I don’t like that motto because it makes us sound like predators taking down prey. These are people, Dad,” she said, gesturing behind her to the werewolves that were undoubtedly listening in. “And hunters have used that motto to hunt innocents on the basis of their DNA. I don’t like it.”

Her father considered that. “Then what do you suggest?”

She thought about it for a moment, then raised her chin. “ _Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes_.”

“We protect those who can’t protect themselves,” her father translated. Allison nodded.

He nodded, accepting that. “Sounds like a motto to me.”

Allison smiled at him and he smiled back, then opened his arms hesitantly. She fell into them and hugged him tightly. He took a shuddering breath.

They still had lots to talk about and deal with -after all, despite her insistence, Kate had still been an Argent and Allison had seen some things today that she would never forget- but they would be okay for now.

Her father pulled away after a minute and put a hand on her cheek. She leaned into it.

“I’m gonna go relieve Boyd and call up some contacts for Theo and Tracy”, her father started. It had been agreed that they couldn’t join Scott’s pack (not like they had wanted to) and they had been willing to hurt innocents, so they were to be punished. It was likely that many hunters would be willing to take care of that for Scott. "So Scott and Isaac can finally talk to you,” he continued. “They look like they’re about to jump out of their skin.”

She snorted, looking back to them. They were acting like they were talking to each other, but the tips of their ears were red. She grinned.

Her father left with a clap to her shoulder, but not before saying “we’re gonna talk about that at some point, you know.”

“Okay,” was all she said before he had gone. Scott and Isaac only waited a moment before they sat on either side of her. Lydia stayed in her seat, and Cora came to sit down beside her while Derek paced back and forth.

“Allison,” Scott said. He looked exhausted.

“Hey,” she said quietly. Scott grabbed one hand and Isaac the other.

“What you did today-,” Scott started.

“You gotta be more specific, Scott,” she said. Isaac huffed a laugh.

“He means killing Kate,” he explained.

“I don’t like killing, Allison,” Scott said. He continued before Allison’s stomach could reach her feet; “but you saved my life.” He squeezed her hand.

“Thank you,” Isaac breathed. He sounded a little choked up.

“I know you don’t like killing,” Allison replied. “But I don’t regret it. I love you, Scott McCall and Isaac Lahey.”

Scott laughed but it sounded more like a sob. Both werewolves suddenly hugged her, like they had been holding back this entire time, whispering their "I love you"'s in her hair. Her hands tightened in their own as they breathed her in, like they were trying to soothe themselves with their scent.

“Guys,” Lydia called. They all looked up and immediately got out of their seats. The doctor that had taken Stiles in was talking to Derek.

He nodded at them as they approached. “Mr. Stilinski is currently stable. We have patched up the tears in his abdomen, and thankfully no vital organs have been affected. He has lost a lot of blood though, so we’d like to keep him for a few days until he recovers.”

Scott nodded tensely. “Will he need blood?”

“No, but he will be weak until his body recovers from the loss.”

“Can we see him?,” Derek asked. Allison couldn’t help but glance at him. His face showed nothing, but his shoulders were so tense they were practically raised to his ears.

“Yes, but he’s sleeping so you won’t get to talk to him. He should be awake in a couple of hours.”

“Thank you,” Scott said sincerely, and the doctor nodded before leading them down the hallway to Stiles’ room.

They all filed in quietly, although a sob escaped Lydia at the sight of Stiles lying on the bed pale and unconscious.

They had changed his hospital gown so there was no blood on him, just a slight lump where the bandages were. His heartbeat was steady.

Scott and Derek immediately grabbed one hand each to take his pain away, black lines flowing up their arms. Neither of them winced.

Allison rubbed Lydia’s back. Cora hesitated only a moment before she put her own hand on Lydia’s back, rubbing up and down, too.

“He’ll be fine,” Cora said gruffly. Scott nodded, although technically Cora hadn’t been addressing him.

“He will,” he said, bending down to kiss him on the forehead as Isaac pushed him away gently to take some of Stiles' pain himself. “He will.”

*

Stiles’ dad arrived a little while later, looking harried. He had taken one look at his son and his face had crumbled, rushing to his side immediately. He was no older than her father, with tanned skin, light brown hair and blue eyes. Stiles didn’t look like him at all; he’d probably taken after his mother, which was likely why him lying unconscious on a hospital bed had hit Sheriff Stilinski like a truck.

Scott hugged him, like he wanted to take some of his pain away, too, but unfortunately that method only worked for physical pain. Stiles’ dad accepted the hug gratefully anyway.

“You’re good kids,” he said gruffly, pulling away from the hug. He looked around and his eyes fell on Allison. He smiled weakly.

“You must be Allison,” he said, walking over to shake her hand. “My son has told me lots about you. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, sir,” she said.

He smiled kindly. “You can call me John.”

She nodded uneasily. Her parents were never that casual with her friends. “John.”

He smiled again and went to sit by his son’s side. “He’ll be okay, right?,” he asked. “I talked to the doctor but you know...doctors.”

Scott smiled. “Yeah, he’ll be okay.”

Sheri- John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, reaching out to push back Stiles’ hair. “The death of me, kid,” he muttered. Allison fell like she was intruding.

And she wasn’t the only one. Derek shifted uncomfortably. “We can leave you to it, sir.”

John looked up at him, surprised. “No, no, that’s not necessary. You do need to get some rest though,” he added, looking around the room sternly. “You must be dead on your feet.”

Allison would most likely crash the moment the last of the adrenaline left her system, but she didn’t want to leave Stiles.

“That’s true. I’ll stay,” Scott said.“You guys can go.”

Lydia scoffed. “You’re just as tired as the rest of us, if not more,” she said, looking down at his chest pointedly. “We should take turns.”

“Okay,” Scott said in the same tone. “I’m first.”

“Scott,” Allison said before Lydia could reply. “I’ll stay. I was the least involved in the fighting. Go see how Liam and Hayden are doing and get some rest. We’re not going anywhere.”

He looked like he was going to argue so she gave him a quick peck on the lips, then pushed him towards Isaac. She kissed Isaac, too.

“Go home. I’ll call you the moment he opens his eyes,” she promised. Lydia hugged her tightly before she allowed Cora to stir her out, and then it was just John, Derek, Allison and Stiles in the room.

Allison sat beside John and Derek sat across from them, on Stiles’ other side, but not too close to him. John sighed. Allison couldn’t help but agree.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pack tries to go back to normal (or as normal as they ever get).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back at it again with ANOTHER chapter. the finish line is so close u guys
> 
> anyway i didnt rly like my last chapter so i rly wanted to push past it and avoid obsessing over it, you kno
> 
> so here we are. just the epilogue left :)

The next time Allison opened her eyes, sunlight was streaming through the curtains, the small TV was on, and Stiles was staring at her.

Wait.

“Stiles!,” she said, sitting up in armchair. She rolled her neck to get some of the stiffness out, a little annoyed she had fallen asleep.

“I’m assuming you didn’t actually betray us,” he said wryly. She smiled a bit.

“No,” she confirmed, looking around the room. Surprisingly, Derek had fallen asleep, too. She was less surprised John wasn’t awake; he must have been exhausted.

“How are you feeling?,” she asked, getting up to stretch. Stiles shrugged.

“I feel fine. My nurse came to change my bandages and everything.”

She walked closer to his bed and sat on the edge.“How long have you been awake?”

“Like, an hour. It’s 9 am.”

Allison nearly jumped. She had fallen asleep for _5 hours_.

She fished her phone out of her pocket but it was turned off, obviously. Allison was tempted to smack her own forehead.

Stiles was looking at her funny. “So,” he started, using the one he always used when he was fishing for information.

“My aunt and Peter are dead,” she said. She put her phone back in her pocket. Stiles blinked.

“Good,” he deadpanned. She had a feeling he really meant it. “What about the others?”

“Hayden and Liam are home. My dad was going to call up some people to take care of Theo and Tracy but I don’t know what he managed to do. I haven’t spoken to him since before they let us in your room.”

“Our pack?”

Allison’s insides warmed at _“our”_. “They’re all fine. Scott, Isaac, Lydia and Cora were here,too, but we made them go home and rest. They’ll probably be here as soon as they can.”

He nodded, looking down at Derek. Allison fought back a smile.

“He refused to leave you, you know,” she said. Allison wondered if he really was asleep.

Stiles must have wondered the same thing because his eyes narrowed. “Yo, Derek,” he said.

Derek did not stir.

He smirked, gearing up for something that would likely piss Derek off if he was actually awake. “Yo, _Miguel_.”

There was no reaction.

“Miguel?,” Allison questioned. Stiles shook his head, eyes still on Derek.

“An old inside joke. He _hates_ it,” he said gleefully. Allison snorted.

Stiles looked up at her again. “How did Kate and Peter die?”

Allison didn’t even blink at the sudden change of subject. She was used to Stiles’ ways. “I killed Kate and Cora killed Peter.”

Stiles blinked at that, thrown off. “You killed Kate?”

Allison raised her eyebrows. “Is it that hard to believe?”

“Well, it was technically your first gig with us, I didn’t expect you to-”

“Do my job?,” she asked tightly. Stiles seemed to understand her reluctance to really talk about it. He changed the subject again.

“When did my dad get here?,” he asked, voice low. Allison looked down at John. He looked younger in his sleep, wrinkles and worry lines smoothed out.

“A little bit after we were allowed to see you,” she replied. “He was very worried. He really loves you.”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed. He looked worried, as if he was the dad, and not the son with severe injuries.

A soft sound turned their attention back to Derek. He was stirring.

He blinked his eyes open slowly, but jumped up, fully awake, when he realized Stiles was up. “Stiles!”

“Good morning, sunshine,” Stiles chirped. Derek sat down again, starting to scowl, but Allison wasn’t fooled. She had seen that soft look on his face when he first gazed at Stiles.

“How are you feeling?,” he asked gruffly, hand hovering over his stomach before touching down gently. Stiles hissed. Black lines flowed up Derek’s arm.

“I’m great now,” Stiles said, pushing his hand away.

“Do you want me to go get the nurse? Get more painkillers?,” Allison asked. Stiles shook his head.

“I like to be in control of my faculties,” he explained. “It doesn’t even hurt!,” he hastened to add as both Allison and Derek frowned at him.

“I’m gonna go call Scott, tell him you’re awake,” Derek said, and then he was breezing past Allison and disappearing through the door.

Stiles stared after him, a weird expression on his face. “He’s so _fucking_ weird,” he said fondly.

* * *

 An hour later, Allison was getting breakfast with the girls and Malia. Kira and Hayden were there, too, having come to see Stiles.

All the boys, plus Stiles’ dad had stayed behind to watch over him. Or, Scott had refused to leave when Stiles tried to kick him out, and the rest of the guys refused to leave without Scott.

Allison had tried to get them to eat at the cafeteria. She wasn’t fond of hospital food, but she wanted to stay close to Stiles (and her boyfriends). The werewolves in the group had shot her down though, insisting that hospitals smelled bad and the food smelled even worse, so they had crossed the street to a dinner.

Allison was currently competing with Malia to see who could eat the most pancakes. Allison had been starving, but she was losing anyway.

“And then he left,” Allison said, recounting Derek and Stiles’ weird behaviour around each other after a bite of chocolate chip pancake “and Stiles just looked at the door so...so…”

“Disgustingly in love?,” Lydia asked wryly. Her eyes were trained on Malia with a grossed out, but awed look on her face.

“Yes,” Allison agreed, stuffing more of the pancake in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before speaking. “How long has this been going on?”

“Not that long actually. Well not that I’m aware of,” Kira amended. She looked well, like she had never been kidnapped and tortured, her eyes shining with life and contentment. “They have always been at each other’s throats but it only started being playful like...near the end of our senior year.”

“Derek is never gonna make a move,” Malia said, finally finishing their last stack of pancakes. Allison set her fork down, not even sad she had lost. She doubted she could actually move with the amount of pancakes she had consumed already. “He’s too deep in his own personal angst to realize that Stiles will probably reciprocate if he does.”

“It’s true,” Cora confirmed. She was sitting beside Lydia, their elbows touching. “He’s always sucked at relationship stuff though.”

No one said Paige’s name. They didn’t really need to.

“And Stiles’ insecurities will probably stop him from making a move at first,” Lydia said, sighing. She pushed a bit of her omelet around. “Which is ridiculous, if you ask me.”

“I agree. He’s pretty good at sex,” Malia said, like that was a completely normal thing to say.

Everyone stared at them, even Hayden. They looked up. “What? He was. And he’s not ugly. He might not be strong or incredibly fast and he’s clumsy-”

“Malia, you’re really not doing Stiles any good-,” Kira tried to interrupt but Malia forged on.

“But he’s _Stiles_. It’s who he is. And frankly, my cousin could do much worse.”

Cora snorted. “He has.”

“Braeden was okay,” Lydia argued. Kira nodded.

Cora shrugged. “Yeah but they were not that compatible. Especially with her job.”

“So,” Malia said, turning to Hayden. Talking about Derek did not look very appealing to them anymore apparently. “Are you gonna join our pack?”

Hayden looked uncomfortable. She still looked a little pale from her time spent tied up. Scott had told her that Deaton was surprised that someone with her biology had even survived wolfsbane that long, and more than a little intrigued.

“I don’t know,” she said. “If Scott agrees to bite me.”

“What?,” Allison asked, surprised. Why would she need the bite?

Hayden sighed, looking annoyed at having to explain. “I don’t know how long I’ll survive like this,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Chimeras usually die fast. It wasn’t always just me, Theo, Tracy, and Corey.”

“What about Josh?,” Lydia asked, a little harshly. Allison almost winced, remembering Lydia’s vision and...ability.

Hayden looked uncomfortable again. “Theo killed him. For making you suspicious.”

“Of course he did,” Lydia muttered.

“Would Corey need the bite, too?,” Allison asked her. Hayden nodded.

“Yeah, but Scott is worried it has less chances of working than it has with me because he’s not a werewolf Chimera,” she said reluctantly, like Scott being probably justified in thinking so was an unpleasant idea.

Corey hadn’t come with the boys. He was at home with Boyd, who had only come to see Stiles for a bit before going home to crash after staying up all night with her father and the hunters that had agreed to take Theo and Tracy. Boyd had helped transport them.

“You have to understand, if Scott had had a choice, he would have taken his sweet time trying to decide whether biting Liam would be a good idea or not,” Lydia said. “It’s who he is and how he operates as an Alpha. You’ll have to truly get and _respect_ that, if you wanna be in his pack.”

Hayden nodded. “I do,” she said. She didn’t look like she was lying, but she did look a little intimidated, and suddenly Allison was hit by how young they all were. She sipped on her orange juice and tried to swallow past the sudden knot in her throat.

She put down her glass and cleared her throat determinedly. “So,” she said. “What are we gonna do about Stiles and Derek?”

Her friends (Cora and Hayden included) grinned in response.

* * *

 It was a week later that Stiles managed to get discharged from the hospital. Allison was pretty sure the hospital staff were just relieved he and his nagging were gone. Stiles insisted he was just _that_ persuasive.

His father had gone home a few days after his first visit (along with Deaton) because he couldn’t take a lot of days off from work, but he had insisted that he and Melissa, Scott’s mom (who had actually called Scott and yelled at him for not telling her what happened sooner), would be expecting them all for Thanksgiving. Allison had accepted for her and her father. She didn’t want them to spend Thanksgiving alone again.

She and her father had, in true Argent fashion, not talked about everything Allison had wanted to yell about; all the secrets her family had been keeping from her, the truth about her aunt, her mom, and her grandfather, and they hadn’t talked about what Allison had done the previous week at all. He had gone back to Seattle after making her promise to contact him often, citing the need to take care of business before he made the move back to Beacon Hills (he had wanted to move to San Francisco to be close to her but she had put her foot down. She had left Seattle for a reason).

Scott had bitten Hayden and Corey after much consideration (and arguments among them and Liam, who definitely supported Hayden’s decision) and both had taken to the bite well. Hayden didn’t have much trouble controlling herself, as she had pretty much already been a werewolf, but Corey was still having trouble. He was disappointed in himself, but Scott insisted that it was definitely normal, Stiles adding pointedly that Scott had nearly killed him more than once the first few months of his transformation, so “really by my standards, you’re already better than Scott”.

Derek and Cora had left for Brazil so they could get their stuff and move to San Francisco to be with the pack. Scott confessed to her and Isaac one night when they were all cuddling in the same bed that Derek had approached him privately and asked him for a place in the pack very respectfully. Allison had been in stitches over Scott’s gruff impersonation of Derek and his scowl.

Derek had also, predictably, not made a move before he left, and Stiles was sad about it although when asked he’d say, “I’m not sad, I’m just brooding. With Derek gone, someone has to take up the mantle.” Erica, sitting beside him at the couch when he'd replied like that once, had kicked him.

“You’re distracted today,” Scott remarked, lifting his mouth from her belly.

Isaac, Scott, and Allison were currently shirtless in Scott’s bed. The rest of the pack had gone to their classes. Allison still had a couple of hours before she had to be at school.

Allison threaded her fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp. He leaned into it, eyelids fluttering closed. She smiled down at him.

“Just thinking about everything that happened this week,”she said. Her breath hitched as Scott came back up again, kissing over her bra and making his way to her neck. He and Isaac were _really_ into neck kissing, although they hadn’t used their teeth on her like they did to each other. Allison planned to fix that.

They had also not done anything under the belt, emotions still a bit raw from the past week. Allison planned to fix that, too.

Isaac hummed in acknowledgement, and he met Scott’s lips. They kissed. Allison was a bit irked that they were rougher with each other. She wasn’t that fragile.

Scott looked up. His pupils were blown wide, and his hair was a mess. His lips were already healing from the slight swelling Isaac's lips and teeth had caused.

“What’s wrong?,” he asked. Her annoyance must have registered in his senses.

Instead of answering, she tightened her legs around his hips and flipped them over so she was on top. He gave an undignified yelp as he landed on his back, and went to reach for her waist.

She grabbed his wrists and pinned them over his head. His breath hitched. She grinned.

“I’m not fragile,” she said, bending closer to him, her crotch hovering right over his.

“We know,” Isaac said, calmly. Well he was calmer than Scott anyway. The guy under her looked like he was ready to die.

“I see you when you kiss, you know,” she said. “You’re rougher with each other, and I know, you’re scared of losing control,” she directed that part to Scott. He hadn’t broken away from her hold, and that, the fact that he didn’t mind her grabbing the reins, was probably hotter than anything they’d done on this bed so far. “But I won’t break,” she finished, bending even more so her chest was close to Scott’s mouth. He reached up and kissed her breasts gently. She sighed.

“We need to have a talk,” she said, as Isaac caressed her back. She sat back, directly on Scott’s dick, earning a choked noise from him. She grinned, because she wasn’t as nice as they thought her to be.

“So that,” she said, nodding to Scott’s wrists, “Was it okay?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Scott said forcefully. Isaac laughed at his tone, then yelped as Scott bit his bicep. He slapped his head away.

“Not for me,” Isaac said. “I don’t like being restrained.”

Scott looked at her. “You?”

Allison simply nodded. She was pretty versatile. “You’re both into biting?”

Twin blushes took over their cheeks. “I’m more into giving,” Scott said. “It’s a-it’s an Alpha thing,” he added reluctantly.

Allison didn’t ask him to elaborate. She thought she understood anyway, and a shiver ran through her. Scott’s eyes went dark.

“What about hair pulling?,” she continued. Scott’s face went bright red. Isaac grinned.

“Oh, he’s more than fine with it,” Isaac said. Allison grinned at Scott’s facial expression.

“I suspect there is a story here,” Allison mused. Isaac snorted.

“I’ll tell you another time,” he promised.

Scott shook his head as if to clear it, then suddenly Allison was the one on her back again, Scott’s knees bracketing her hips.

“Enough about all of my kinks,” he started, ignoring Isaac’s muttered “that’s not even half of them”. A slow, predatory grin took over Scott’s face, a similar glint in his eye.

“Let’s see what you like,” he said, and set his lips on the pulse of her throat with a low growl. Allison was sufficiently distracted, all thoughts of talking going straight out of her head.

* * *

 Allison went to class like everything was normal, but, predictably, she didn’t pay much attention, mechanically copying down the most important notes while her recording app took down the rest. She was fluent in French anyway. She was pretty sure she would have no trouble catching up on a French grammar class. Her attention was mostly on the pack groupchat, which had been active nearly the moment she had stepped foot in her lecture.

Stiles had taken control of the chat, creating a new one on his phone, and adding everyone, including Derek, Cora, Hayden, and Corey. The new chat name was “McCall and the McCallettes”.

Malia, Erica, Boyd and Stiles himself thought the name was hilarious. Allison was of the belief that Derek’s reaction had probably been more hilarious. She wished she could have witnessed it.

At the moment, they were talking about a party _Full Moon_ was throwing for the pack. The club would be closed to unsuspecting humans and open to friendly packs, Danny, her assistant manager Brett and a couple of dancers that belonged to Brett’s pack, and surprisingly, Jackson. Apparently he had managed to wear down his parents, and was back in California. Derek and Cora couldn't attend, but they hadn't left from the chat, shockingly enough.

Lydia: _you can’t just wear “whatever” stiles, you have to look good_

Unsurprisingly, Lydia had started asking what everyone was going to wear that night. It wasn’t going well.

Stiles: _bUT WHY? It’s just gonna be us anyway_

Stiles: …

Stiles: _you’re glaring down at your phone right now arent u_

Erica: _literally what did you expect with that attitude stiles_

Stiles: _scott, i want you to know that when i, inevitably, perish at lydia’s hands tonight, you can have everything i own_

Isaac: _u have like $3 to your name and a shitty jeep stilinski_

Stiles: _and this attitude is why yOU are not the one getting everything i own when i die_

Lydia: _this conversation is going nowhere. Im coming over to ur place as soon as ur done class and WE are gonna sit down and have a long talk together_

Stiles:...

Stiles: _scott?_

Scott: _yeah buddy?_

Stiles: _take good care of my baby_

Isaac: _when u say “baby” are u referring to the senior citizen of a vehicle that is currently parked down the road from our building_

Stiles: _ur going down tonight lahey_

Isaac: _bring it on, bilinski_

When Allison got out of her class, a poor class in terms of note-taking, but a good class in terms of pack-shared inside jokes and memes (courtesy of Stiles), she was surprised to see Lydia waiting for her instead of Scott and Isaac.

“I need a third party for my intervention in Stiles’ life choices,” her friend explained as she took Allison by the arm. Allison laughed and allowed her to drag her down the street determinedly.

* * *

Despite Lydia’s stress and Stiles’ general pettiness, they managed to get everyone to look good (not that they ever had much trouble; really what was it about supernatural creatures?) and into _Full Moon_ that night.

When they entered, the party was in full swing. Werewolves from friendly packs congratulated Scott and even offered to take some of Stiles’ pain away (his stitches were still tender, obviously). Allison got her fair share of admiration and respect, too, which she didn’t really know how to feel about, but she accepted the praise anyway.

She had met Satomi, too, who had just stopped by to greet them and check up on Scott. She was an older lady of small stature, but stately and imposing, with a shrewd gaze. She had shaken Allison’s hand, given her congratulations for “being ruthless and also scoring two nice werewolves” and left. Allison had a new favorite adult.

She, Lydia, Kira, and Stiles were at the bar, getting drinks. There was a separate supply of drinks for the werewolves, alcohol laced with a form of wolfsbane that wouldn’t kill them, but would get them actually drunk. Wolfsbane had no effect on Kira, and her metabolism wasn’t as fast as a werewolf’s unless she was actively healing, so she didn’t need wolfsbane-laced drinks.

“Hey, Danny,” Allison greeted as he finally walked over to them. He looked good, in a tight blue button down and equally tight black jeans, and he looked happier than Allison had ever seen him.

He grinned. “Hey!,” he greeted, and reached over the counter to kiss them all on the cheek, even Stiles, who spluttered hilariously.

“You look happy,” Allison said. Danny grinned wider and shrugged.

“Jackson is back in the country, so...I _am_ ,” he explained. Stiles snorted.

“Can’t relate,” he said, loud enough for Danny to hear him. Lydia smacked him upside down the head before Danny could reach over.

“Thank you,” he told Lydia, glaring at Stiles. His frown fell as he stared over Stiles’ head and he grinned, eyes crinkling.

“You bothering my boyfriend, Stilinski?,” a voice behind them yelled over the music. They all turned.

It was Jackson, Allison knew from the pictures Lydia had shown her. He had gained a little colour from his time travelling. He wasn’t tall, but he was lean and muscular under his dark grey Henley (Allison was vividly reminded of Derek, then remembered that, technically, Derek had been Jackson’s Alpha, and snorted to herself), and his haircut (and clothing, come to think of it) was obviously pricey. He was good looking, Allison supposed, but he had a sly, almost downright mean expression on his face at the moment.

Then it was gone when Jackson turned his eyes up to Danny. He grinned and plastered himself over the counter to kiss him passionately. After a moment (or several) they touched foreheads, breathing each other in.

Stiles groaned, then reached to extricate his drink from Danny’s clenched hand. He managed to do so with minimal flailing. “And…..I’m gone,” he said, disappearing in the crowd. Lydia snorted, then slapped Jackson’s ass. He yelped and detached himself from Danny.

“Not even a hi, you asshole?,” she asked. He smirked at her and hugged her tightly, kissing her on both cheeks.

“Hey babe. You look beautiful,” he said. Lydia sniffed, but she looked pleased.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said. He grinned, then looked up at Allison.

“Hey,” he said, reaching out a hand for Allison to shake. She took it and shook for a moment before letting go. “You must be Allison. I’m Jackson. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” she said. He smiled at her for a moment, then turned back to his boyfriend.

“When can you come out from behind there?,” he asked, expression borderline predatory. “I wanna dance.”

Brett chose that moment to materialize out of the crowd. “If that was code for “sex” Jackson, like it usually is with you two, that’s a big fat _NO, NOT IN MY CLUB_ ,” he snapped. Danny got the rest of their drinks quickly.

“Suck my dick, Brett,” Jackson snarled. Brett rolled his eyes, perching up on a stool.

“You have Danny for that,” he snarked. Kira choked on the first sip of her drink. Allison pounded her back, giggling, and Lydia grabbed them and dragged them to the dancefloor with a roll of her eyes.

Allison had truly missed clubbing, as weird as that sounded, but it was one of the first things that had brought her closer to a group of people she now considered  _family_. She threw her head back as Lydia, Kira, and now Malia moved with her to the music, and grinned up to the ceiling, her body covered in glitter (an inevitability in here), and her heart full. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok p.s.: i dont remember if wolfsbane actually affects kira so i just played it safe and said it doesn't. also im obviously not a medical expert but i have a feeling stiles shouldn't be even up, much less clubbing, after getting his insides almost ripped out but u know...........this is teen wolf
> 
> also: jackson is kinda super nice in this, compared to his attitude in s1/s2 but i doubt danny would date him if he'd stayed an asshole so........... i hope u dont believe he's too ooc
> 
> i hope u enjoyed!! leave kudos/feedback xoxo


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Thanksgiving and Allison is thankful for a lot of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT I DID IT. I DID IT. IT'S DONE. IT'S FINISHED. MY FIRST MULTI-CHAP FIC IS FINISHED
> 
> y'all have no idea how i feel right now this is amazing. this fic has been with me since JANUARY and now it's OCTOBER i'm just so. blurrykrabsmeme.jpg
> 
> anyway i really hope u guys like this epilogue. i just wanted to write a chapter where they didnt have to worry about ANYTHING y'know. anyway, ENJOY

Two months later, Thanksgiving weekend found Allison in Scott’s childhood bedroom, lying in his childhood bed with her boyfriends on either side of her.

They had offered to help with the preparations, but Melissa had put her foot down and kicked all of the weres out of her kitchen because of their ridiculous appetites and therefore their tendency to steal bites of food. She had told Allison to relax because it was her first time here even though Allison protested, so now here she was.

“Your mom is really nice. And I like your house,” she told Scott, shivering a bit as he dragged his fingertips over the sensitive skin of her ribs. She really did like his house. It was cozy, well-lived in, and his room really showed the kind of teenage boy he had been, what with the band posters and the old guitar and the books on the shelves.

And Melissa was an angel. She had Scott’s dark, kind eyes, and his quick smile, but she was also firm when she had to be, handling an entire pack of supernatural creatures (and Stiles) easily. The Sheriff hung onto her every word which was disgustingly cute. Stiles sent them both _looks_ every time they interacted, but they hadn’t seemed to notice yet, and neither had Scott.

“Yes, she is,” he said, his voice warm. “And thank you. I like San Francisco but I love coming back here even though Beacon Hills holds...a lot of memories.”

Isaac hummed in agreement. Allison felt the vibrations through his chest.

“Who’s in the house right now?,” she asked, an idea forming in her head. She smirked.

Isaac eyed her smirk warily, but it was Scott who answered. “My mom, Stiles’ dad, your dad, Stiles and Derek.”

“I thought Stiles had been kicked out,” Allison said. Scott grinned.

“From the kitchen, yeah, but John refuses to let him and Derek out of his sight after what happened during their Skype call.”

Allison and Isaac snorted. Last month, Stiles had been talking to his dad on Skype when Derek had dropped by his apartment and had confessed his feelings, both guys thinking Stiles had ended the call with his father.

He hadn’t though; he had just switched tabs, and his father had heard _everything,_ including some very compromising material. The pack had yet to let either of them live it down, and Stiles’ dad had issued a ban on them being alone in a room since last month, although Allison was pretty sure he just did it to see Stiles splutter in embarrassment every time he brought it up.

“Is Derek listening in on us? Can you tell?,” Allison asked. Scott shook his head, his hair tickling her neck.

“Nah, he’s talking with Stiles and his dad. Why?”

Allison grinned, then sat up to straddle Isaac. He looked a bit startled, but his large hands came to rest on her thighs anyway. Allison was glad she had chosen to wear tights and a skirt. Much more accessible. She bent to Isaac’s ear, for show, more than anything.

“What do you say we fuck on Scott’s childhood bed?,” she whispered. Isaac’s breath hitched, and then they were kissing, rough and wet.

Allison was pretty distracted, but she heard Scott groan. “You’re gonna be the death of me.”

She grinned against Isaac’s lips.

* * *

The pack came in the afternoon, some bringing food for the next day and others just coming to see Melissa and Scott. Liam had gone to see his parents and his friend Mason , who he only saw whenever they could both visit Beacon Hills as Mason had chosen a school out of state, according to Liam’s very grumpy confession. Hayden and Corey had gone with him. They were the first one back, along with Mason, a smiling, polite boy around their age. He and Corey had apparently hit it off right away.

Malia had come with food from her dad, and Kira had come with her parents who had actually dropped her off to meet the “famous Argent”. Kira’s mother was like the spitting image of Kira, but Kira had gotten her father’s easy smile. Allison decided she liked them. Malia was tense around them although Kira’s parents didn’t seem to dislike the fact that Kira was dating them. They even smiled when Kira greeted her significant other with a kiss on the lips. Malia had just flushed red.

Cora and Lydia had gone to see Lydia’s mother and father, Cora going along for moral support as Lydia’s parents were prone to fighting and also needling Lydia about her life in general. When they’d come back Lydia hadn’t looked any worse for the wear though, so Allison hoped everything had gone well. She still didn't know if Cora and Lydia were actually dating, but they were definitely something more than friends. She made a mental note to ask Lydia about it later.

Erica and Boyd had both gone to see their parents as a couple, so they were the last to arrive, and also the ones to stay in the McCall house the least as Scott’s mom kicked them all out.

“Not that I don’t love you,” she had said, eyes crinkling as Erica whined and practically draped herself on her, “but in this house there are two things that have never been supernatural; my furniture and my patience.”

So now they were all gathered in Derek’s loft which could probably fit all of the pack’s apartments together. It was close to downtown and had a good view, although it hadn’t been lived in a while since Derek and Cora had been in Brazil for a few years. Erica had complained about the dust, and Derek had told her to “shut up and help air this out then” to which Erica had responded by tackling him to the floor, avoiding his coffee table by mere inches.

Place aired out and cleaned, they were all now sitting in the living room, she supposed, although this floor was basically one very large room, in various positions. Allison, Scott, and Isaac had claimed one end of the couch, Cora, Lydia, Boyd and Erica squished beside them. Mason, Liam, Hayden and Corey were on the floor by Scott’s feet, Derek was on the armchair with Stiles on his lap, and Malia and Kira were by their feet, Kira on Malia’s lap.

“We should do something,” Malia was saying, fingers idly playing with Kira’s hair. “I’m bored.”

“Pretty much everything is closed though,” Stiles reminded them.

“I wanna run,” they said, their foot bouncing. “I haven’t run in _ages_ , I miss the Preserve.”

Stiles made a noise of protest. “If I try to run in the Preserve I’ll probably end up eating leaves within the first five minutes.”

“Probably,” Isaac snorted. Stiles stuck his tongue out at him.

“Isn’t it a full moon tonight?,” Allison asked. Scott looked a little startled.

“I honestly forgot,” he said. Erica laughed.

“Shocking,” Stiles deadpanned. Scott ignored his sarcasm, years of training helping him push past it. Isaac didn’t have such training. He rolled his eyes at him.

“Give him a break, he hasn’t cared about the full moon in like four years.”

“True,” Stiles said. They all turned to him.

“What?,” he asked defensively. Even Derek was staring up at him weirdly.

“Stiles,” Lydia said slowly. “You just agreed with something Isaac said.”

Stiles spluttered, searching for an appropriate response, but it was too late.

Isaac cackled. “I will never let you forget this, Stilinski.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Stiles muttered. Derek nuzzled his shoulder comfortingly.

“Anyway,” Lydia jumped in before Isaac could retort “we should call Jackson and Danny, too. Jackson probably hasn’t had a chance to wolf out either.”

“True,” Scott said, already searching through his phone. “I’ll call him.”

“So we’re doing this then? Really? What am I going to do while you guys run?,” Stiles whined as Scott called up Jackson.

“Choke on forest leaves,” Isaac suggested. Stiles stuck his tongue out again.

* * *

Allison was running through the Preserve, howls echoing in her ears and adrenaline coursing through her veins.

The sun had been setting when they had all gathered at the Hale house (or the remains of it; Allison had been unable to say anything while she had her eyes on it so Scott had urged the pack to spread out as quickly as possible) but now it was dark, the moon shining full over the tops of the trees.

It was dark among the trees, Allison’s human eyes only helped by the moon, but it still wasn’t enough. Only her gymnastics training and her reflexes had saved her from sprawling on the forest floor several times.

That, and primal fear. Allison didn’t like feeling scared but her body had other ideas every time she heard a howl.

It was kinda exhilarating though, which why she had joined the run. Stiles had joined them for a bit too but had quickly tapped out when Derek caught up with him. Allison would have bet money that they were currently fucking on a pile of leaves.

She slowly came to a stop as she realized she hadn’t heard the snap of branches, Erica’s cackle or Scott’s happy howl for a while, and listened carefully, straining her ears. She thought she could hear howls in the distance but she wasn’t sure, so she stayed there, in the dark, as silent and still as possible.

She jumped to the side suddenly, seconds before a warm, heavy body slammed into her and took her down. Her hand twitched towards the knife in her boot but her wrists were grabbed and held over her head.

Red eyes shone down at her, sharp teeth glinting.

“YOU-,” Allison managed to say before Scott swooped down to kiss her, still with a hint of fangs. A shiver went through her at the sensation, and she couldn’t help but arch up.

Scott was laughing. “Hi.”

She thread her fingers through his hair and pulled back. He groaned, the red disappearing as his eyes fluttered close. She kissed up and down his neck, then bit where shoulder and neck met. His hips jolted forward, pressing her down on the forest floor. She opened her legs so he could fit more comfortably, and he complied, hips coming flush to hers. She groaned.

“Fuck, I love full moons,” she said. Scott laughed again.

“Where’s Isaac?,” she asked, craning her neck back to look around the forest. Not that she could see much.

Scott turned his attention to her neck, although both him and Isaac had agreed not to leave marks on her while her dad was around, so it was more affectionate than anything.

Not that she cared what her dad had to say, but it was Thanksgiving, so she would let him forget that she was dating two werewolves. At least for a bit.

“He’s coming soon. He went to break up Derek and Stiles.”

Allison laughed. Scott had tried to sound annoyed on behalf of his best friend, but Isaac was a weak spot for him. She scratched his scalp and he leaned into it, practically purring.

The snap of a branch brought her back to herself.

“It’s Isaac,” Scott soothed. The man in question appeared out of the trees, eyes shining yellow.

“You started without me,” he complained, words a bit slurred because of his fangs.

“Never,” Scott said as Isaac dropped down beside him. They kissed roughly.

“Not that I wouldn’t love doing stuff here,” Isaac started, as he broke away to kiss Allison, too, more gently and with less fangs.

They were still not comfortable wolfing out a lot whenever they did anything like this, especially Scott, who straight up refused to use his fangs anywhere on her body. Isaac had confessed to her one day that Scott was still not totally comfortable with his nature, despite how far he’d come, so it would take a while for him to warm up to the idea. Isaac was a bit more rough with her, since he was a beta and he couldn’t do _much_ damage with his fangs, but he was still super careful, too. Sometimes it annoyed her, but other times it made her feel...taken care of. Loved.

“But,” he continued, pulling her out of her thoughts, “I’m pretty sure Stiles is out for blood and if he interrupts us here I might do something I'll regret. A bit.”

Scott shook his head and got off Allison. She mourned the loss of his body heat for a second, and then Isaac was getting up and pulling her with him.

“So, where are we going?,” Allison asked. She made no move to fix her clothes.

Scott grinned, fangs glinting. “Wanna sneak in through my window like teenagers?”

Allison laughed and then she was running back where she’d come from, howls echoing behind her.

* * *

 The next day, Allison woke up, sweat beading practically everywhere on her body. Somehow, overnight, Liam, Stiles, and Malia had wedged themselves on Scott’s bed, even though it could hardly fit Isaac and Allison at best. She didn’t even care that she was naked under the sheets (it wasn’t the first time the pack had cuddled with them after... _ahem_ ) but Allison was pretty sure she was going to overheat soon if she didn’t move.

Not that she could.

She groaned softly and raised her head as best as she could, without dislodging Isaac and Malia, who had both been using her chest and stomach as a pillow. The rest of the pack, save for Derek, Cora, Lydia, and Mason, were all sprawled out around the room.

Scott stirred beside her. His eyes blinked open, shining red for a second before going back to their warm brown colour. He gave her a soft smile. Her heart clenched.

“Good morning,” he whispered. She bent down to kiss him.

“Good morning. I love you,” she said, just to see his bright grin.

“I love you, too,” he replied, with all the Scott Sincerity™  (God, she was starting to think like _Stiles_ ) she had gotten to know very well the past few months. He looked around the room fondly. Stiles was practically on top of him and Liam was at his feet.

“You wanna help me get up before I overheat?,” she whispered. He laughed softly, reaching up to pick Stiles off him and set him on the floor beside Corey. He didn’t bother moving Liam, but he reached across Allison to move Isaac and Malia. They didn’t even stir.

Allison sat up more, stifling a relieved groan as cool air hit her sweaty limbs. Scott was laughing at her.

“Shut up, you’re like furnaces,” she said, throwing the sweaty sheet off her. Scott’s laughter cut off abruptly.

She turned to look at him and smirked. His eyes were very dark, and he had a hard time moving them up to her face.

“Wanna come take a shower with me?,” she asked, still smirking. Scott nearly tripped as he got up as fast as possible. She laughed at him, but she had to muffle a shriek as he picked her up off the bed like she weighed nothing and speed-walked to the bathroom with her. He took great care to be silent as they passed the guest-room door. Her father was likely still sleeping in there.

He had barely stayed in the McCall house the past couple of days. It was hard for him to be back here, in Beacon Hills, where her mother took her life, her grandfather tried to use him so he could be bitten and cured from his cancer and Kate kinda died. Her mother and Kate were buried in the Argent family grave in Beacon Hills cemetery. Allison hadn’t gone to visit them.

Scott, sensing her mood change, set her down in the bathroom, closing the door gently behind him. He cradled her face in his hands.

“You wanna talk about it?,” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“No,” she said predictably, and pulled him down for a kiss.

* * *

 When Allison and Scott sneaked back in the room, Kira had crawled on the bed, and fallen asleep spooning Malia. Liam was still at their feet, and Stiles was still on the floor, limbs sprawled everywhere and mouth hanging open. Hayden and Corey were still asleep. Isaac was the only one awake, pouting at them.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Scott whispered, crawling over him on all fours, towel hanging precariously from his waist. Isaac opened his mouth to say something but Scott kissed him. He groaned.

“You taste like Allison,” he whined. Allison’s face went red. She bent over her suitcase to grab clothes.

“I would be tasting like you too right now if you hadn’t been busy cuddling Malia to death,” Scott said. He sounded like he was pouting. Allison finally managed to pull a sweater over her head and turned.

Scott had managed to throw the towel on the floor and find underwear in the minutes Allison had taken to get dressed, but he was still on top of Isaac, hand on his bare chest.

“You both owe me shower sex next time you feel up to it,” Isaac said. Allison laughed, walking over to kiss him on the forehead. He nosed at her jaw.

“Deal,” she said. “Now come on, go take a shower. I need food,” she urged. He got up, ignoring Scott’s put out whine as he had to move off him, and walked to the door, receiving a smack on his ass by Scott for his trouble. He gave an indignant squawk and glared at them as they both giggled, but he was gone with a smile.

“Come on, get dressed.” Allison said, pulling at Scott’s hand. “Let’s go say hi to your mom.”

Scott got up and kissed her on the cheek. “Yes, ma’am.”

She rolled her eyes but grinned. Her cheeks were starting to hurt.

*

When Allison, Scott and Isaac finally emerged from Scott’s room, Melissa was in the kitchen preparing stuff for Derek, Cora, and Stiles’ Dad to take to the clearing in the Preserve where they had apparently already set up tables. Over half of the pack had a house in Beacon Hills, but none of them were big enough to house so many people.

Lydia was helping Melissa with the decoration of the dishes. Allison didn’t see the point in the food looking pretty; knowing their friends, everything would end up a mess anyway. Cora and Derek were sitting on the couch, Stiles’ dad across from them.

Scott and Isaac sniffed beside her. The house smelled nice to Allison, like cooked meat and spices and a hint of cinnamon, probably from the pies. She could only imagine what it smelled like to them.

“Good morning,” Melissa said, greeting them with a smile. She ruffled Isaac’s hair as he passed her, despite their difference in height, and then smacked his arm away as he tried to grab a bite of stuffing with his _bare hands._

“You deserved that,” Allison said, walking in the kitchen. She waved at the occupants of the living room and kissed Lydia on the cheek, then giggled, startled, when Melissa swooped in to place a loud kiss on her cheek.

“And that’s why you’re my favorite,” she said. Allison flushed.

“ _Mom_ ,” Isaac said. Melissa’s face went soft for a moment before the teasing look came back.

“Don’t you _Mom_ me, young man,” she said, going back to the food. “I’ve seen Stiles and Scott through their middle school years. Well, they’re still as bad now, but-”

“ _Mom_ ,” Scott whined. “I was never as bad as Stiles,” he grumbled.

“Heard you were talking shit,” Stiles said, standing on top of the stairs. Malia and Kira were a little behind them, both looking disheveled.

“Language,” Melissa and John said at the same time. They smiled across the room at each other while Stiles pretended to gag. He practically bounced down the stairs and straight into Derek’s lap. Cora made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. Stiles’ dad just sighed.

“Good morning,” Stiles told Derek. From here, Allison could see the tips of his ears were red. Lydia already had her phone out, snapping an incredibly zoomed in pic.

“Stiles-”

“Father of mine,” Stiles interrupted him “let’s make a deal.”

“Stiles-,” his dad groaned again but Stiles was on a roll now, sitting up in Derek’s lap and starting to gesture. Allison hoped Derek’s reflexes were fast enough for Stiles’ flying hands. She actually seriously doubted it.

“Let’s make a deal,” Stiles repeated. “I’ll let you eat whatever you want for the entire night if you don’t react every time I remind you of the fact that I’m a sexually active adult in a relationship.”

John blinked at him, looking torn. Scott snickered beside her.

“John…,” Melissa started. John winced.

“Deal,” he told Stiles. Stiles whooped, and hit Derek in his enthusiasm. Derek just grunted.

“John!,” Melissa chided.

“The road to corruption is a slippery slope,” John said gravelly. Scott wheezed. Allison rubbed his back, giggling.

*

The full moon had exhausted the pack, and by the time the newest members had gotten up, the tables, according to Melissa, were almost completely set up.

Allison and her dad had finally decided to go to the cemetery together, before they had to be at the Preserve. She didn’t want to visit Kate but her mom was in there, and Allison hadn’t been in Beacon Hills Cemetery to see her since her funeral.

They had been sitting on her grave, not speaking, for at least ten minutes, before her dad spoke up.

“I blame myself, you know,” he confessed, voice hoarse from disuse and pent-up emotions. Allison looked up at him.

“Why?”

He shook his head, eyes unfocused. “I wasn’t strong enough to go against Gerard, to do the right thing. He had just declared war on all werewolves and gone blatantly against the Code, but somehow, the Code still applied to my wife.”

“It was a long time ago,” Allison said as gently as she could. “Blaming yourself isn’t healthy, and besides, Mom played a part in this, too. This was her choice.”

Her dad looked at her, blue eyes bright. “I’m proud of you, you know. And she would be, too.”

Somehow, Allison doubted that. Maybe her Mom would have been proud…..at some point.

She didn’t say that though. She squeezed her dad’s hand and fell silent again.

* * *

 “This looks like….a lot of food,” Allison noted later, when they had all gathered for the Thanksgiving dinner.

The Preserve was pretty in daylight, the smell of the forest clearing Allison’s lungs with every breath. The view from the little clearing was amazing, too, the sun setting over Beacon Hills underneath them. The entire pack was there, along with Melissa, Stiles’ dad, Allison’s dad, Kira’s parents, and Deaton. Jackson and Danny would drop by later, after dinner at Danny’s house, but he had lent Melissa his portable sound system so they could have music. Colourful lights and lanterns were also set up around the trees for when it went dark, although it was more for the benefit of the humans in the group than decoration.

In the middle of the clearing, Melissa and the Sheriff had set up several large tables with the help of the stronger werewolves (Derek, Boyd, Cora and Scott), and the others had taken care of the food. Allison spotted at least five turkeys.

“We have a lot of werewolves to feed,” Melissa answered her, dropping down two seats away. “You should have seen how much Scott ate when he was in high school, especially after full moons. I felt like I was feeding an entire army.”

“Fast metabolism,” Scott said a bit defensively, his cheeks pinking. Allison put an arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

“This explains a lot,” she said, patting his abs over his sweater. He grinned at her.

“I don’t want none of that while I’m eating,” Stiles hollered from the other side of the tables. Isaac, passing by behind him, reached over to smack him on the head.

“We have to deal with you and Derek all the time,” he said, coming to sit beside her, on the other side from Scott.

Stiles made an affronted noise. Derek glared at Isaac without much heat.

The Sheriff, on Stiles’ other side, rolled his eyes but said nothing. Everyone slowly started to sit down, so Melissa stood up, lifting her glass. All conversations ceased.

“Good evening, everyone,” she greeted, smiling. They all greeted her back. “Another year, another Thanksgiving, and here we are again. I’m glad to see all of the old faces, but I’m thrilled to see new ones, too.” Her eyes fell on Allison. She smiled down at her. Allison smiled back.

“Some of us have been having Thanksgiving together for a long time,” she continued, nodding towards Stiles and his dad. Stiles beamed at her. “But this became a pack thing after my son, your Alpha, graduated.”

She took a deep breath here, and sipped her wine a bit before continuing. “When I found out about my son’s nature, I never imagined that along with his fangs, claws and quite terrible sideburns-”

“MOM!,” Scott whined. Laughter went around the tables.

“I never imagined,” Melissa repeated, grinning, “ that he would also get a family. But I’m glad he did. You’ve been with my son through thick and thin and it’s impossible not to care about you, yes Stiles even you,” (Stiles cheered) “so even though I have to cook for about a week straight to feed your bottomless stomachs, I’m very glad to have you here.” She smiled around the tables, and they all clapped.

“And now,” she continued as the clapping winded down “to our newcomers.” She turned to Allison here, smiling. “Allison Argent,” she started.

Allisons swallowed. Isaac and Scott squeezed her hands.

“One day in August, my son called me, sounding very enthusiastic about his new, very pretty neighbour. I didn’t think much of it, but then, as summer progressed, my son couldn’t stop talking about this Allison Argent that was lovely and smart and strong and so confusing, and I knew someone had stolen my son’s heart.”

Allison blushed scarlet and did not meet her dad’s eyes across the table. Scott beamed at her.

“I was worried at first. Isaac is like a son to me and I didn’t want him to get hurt. But he was just as enthusiastic about this Allison Argent as my own son was, and I knew I had nothing to worry about. I was right. Allison Argent, I have to thank you for not only saving the lives of people I care about, including my own son, but I also have to thank you for continuing to make him and Isaac happy. I hope we spend lots of Thanksgiving weekends together.”

Allison got up to hug her. Melissa squeezed back tightly as everyone clapped. Scott, Isaac, and Stiles cheered. Erica whistled.

“Thank you,” Allison whispered in her hair. Her eyes felt kinda wet.

Melissa just held her until Allison broke away slowly and sat back down.

She held her boyfriends’ hands and listened to Melissa express her love for the new members of her family with something like happiness fluttering in her chest.

And then, she allowed herself to believe something she hadn’t believed in a very long time.

Everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a few things:
> 
> 1) i dont ship sterek in the show. stiles is still underage and the relationship he has with derek rn isnt very healthy so it was easier for me to write this ship YEARS later bc u know. character development. also stiles is an adult
> 
> 2) i really hope i've done all the characters justice, and especially our favorite triad. i've never written a poly ship before
> 
> 3) THANK YOU for sticking with me since ch1, and to those who found me later: thank you. u guys are the real MVPs. im sorry i wasnt good at updates.
> 
> 4) HOLY SHIT IT'S DONE


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